This cross sectional study was carried out among 313 higher secondary college students to assess the knowledge on health literacy and behaviors related to non communicable diseases (Diabetes and Cancer). The study period was from January to December 2013. Majorities (63%) of the respondents were male and rests of them (37.0%) were female. Maximum of the (45.1%) respondent’s father was higher educated (masters) and more than one-third (34.9%) mothers were graduate. A vast majority (98.1%) of the respondents indicated smoking as the main risk factor for Cancer in which most (89.8%) of the respondents mentioned excess body weight as the most important risk factor for Diabetes. A vast majority (93.9%) of the respondents gave emphasis about cessation of tobacco for the prevention of cancer whereas majority (79.9%) of the respondents gave emphasis about physical exercise and labor for the prevention of Diabetes. Knowledge about health literacy is statistically significant (p=0.021) with gender of the students. Father and mother educational status were not significantly associated (p>0.05) with health literacy. Need based, specific, time relevant and school based programs and community based awareness program need to be designed for further improvement of health literacy among college students.Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. September 2017, 3(3): 341-346

Poor socio-economic conditions and inappropriate feeding practices in slum dwelling mothers can have adverse consequences for the health and nutritional status of their under-five children. The present study was to assess the feeding practices and socio-economic status mothers of under-five children. A cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2015 to December 2015 in four urban slums of Bangladesh. Two hundred and fifty five mother-child pairs were selected by non-random convenience sampling and were interviewed using a pre-tested questionnaire. Anthropometric measurements were taken from under-five children aged 6-59 months. In the present study, boys (54.0%) were predominant over girls (46.0%). The prevalence of initiation of breastfeeding after delivery, prelacteal feeds, exclusive breastfeeding and bottle-feeding were 34.5%, 43.5%, 39.6% and 30.6%, respectively. Out of 255 children studied, more than half (57.6%) of the children received complementary feeds at the appropriate time whereas 45.9% children received with appropriate consistency. Meal frequency was 40.4% and minimum dietary diversity was given to only 39.6% of the children. Minimum dietary diversity means feeding the child food from at least four food groups. Feeding practices improve as mother‟s education levels and household income status increases while maximum slum dwelling mothers are illiterate and primary level completed and household income status are not static. Data showed that overall 14.0% of under-five children were suffering from malnutrition. In terms of severity, 11.3% were moderately malnourished-MAM and 2.7% were severely malnourished-SAM. Various inappropriate feeding practices are more prevalent among urban slum mothers. From this study, it was evident that mothers of low socio-economic group have poor knowledge regarding the feeding practices of their under-five children. There is an urgent need to bridge the “knowledge gap” and “practice gap” of mother‟s from urban slum and lower socio economic strata of the community by further strengthening the on-going breastfeeding programme, breastfeeding knowledge and practice of mothers in urban slum areas.Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. September 2018, 4(3): 307-314

Abstract:This cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the lung function status and socio-demographic profile of the tobacco workers. The study place was "Akij Tobacco Industry" which is situated in Sharsa Upazila under Jessore District of Bangladesh. The period of the study extending from January to December 2014. Tobacco worker who had worked in Akij Tobacco Industry, both male and female and working period more than one year. The total sample size was 203 and simple random sampling was done to select the workers on the basis of their identification number. Data were collected through face to face interviews using a semistructured questionnaire and lung function status measured by the spirometer. About one-third (34.0%) of the workers was in the age group 40-60 years and mean age were35.8 ± 0.2 years. Of them the majority (54.1%) were male, 89.2% were married, and 48.3% were illiterate. More than half (53.2%) of the worker from the joint family and maximum (53.7%) respondents were in the income group 5000-10000 taka, 39.4% of the worker lived in katcha house and 95.5% were using the sanitary latrine. Approximately half (49.7%) of workers were working for more than 10 years and 66.5% of the workers were working daily for 6-8 hours. More than half (52.7%) of the workers were consuming tobacco product in which 62.3% used to smoke and 31.1% exposed to smokeless tobacco. The mean ± SD forced vital capacity in the 1 st second (FEV1) was 2.25 ± 0.12 whereas forced vital capacity (FVC) was 2.59 ± 0.27 and the FEV1/FVC ratio was 87.16 ± 4.91.There was no significant (p>0.05) difference between male and female in their lung function status. There was a significant difference (p<0.05) was found between in mean score of FEV1/FVC ratio and the total working period. From the public health point of view, preventive measures need to be taken to control the dusty environment and wearing of personal protective masks.

This cross-sectional study was undertaken to delineate the hygiene behavior among the female garment workers in Bangladesh during pre-COVID-19 period. 500 female garments workers were selected for the study. Data were collected by face-to-face interview method using semi-structured questionnaire which include the information on socio-demography, different components of personal hygiene such as bathing, brushing teeth, washing feet, washing/ changing cloth, washing hair by soap/ shampoo, trimming nail and washing hand. The majority of the participants (>75%) had ideal knowledge and practiceon every considered hygiene behavior. Regarding hand-washing behavior, only 3% had appropriate knowledge and ideally practiced by 60.2%. Knowledge of the respondents was significantly associated with ideal practice of all components (p=0.01). Predictors identified according to age, BMI, education and marital status of respondents, were significantly associated with hygiene related to bathing, washing feet, clothing, hair and hand.