Academic literature on the topic 'Bangladesh. Ministry of Women and Children Affairs'

In Bangladesh, a large number of children are deprived of their basic human rights due to unacceptable health, nutrition, education as well as social conditions. In addition, children are exposed to severe forms of sexual, physical and mental abuses at home, in the work place, in institutions and other public places. The nature and extent of violence against children irrespective of age, sex and class has been increasing day by day. These include physical torture, rape, homicide and sometimes heinous attacks with acid. Children are also victims of child labor and trafficking, both of which are treated as the most severe form of child exploitation and child abuse in the world today. This review article is aimed to focus on the present situation of various forms of child abuses in our country. Data collection is based on secondary sources of information from Dhaka Medical College Hospital, One Stop Crisis Center (OCC),UNICEF, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, several Dhaka based organizations and news paper clipping.Ibrahim Med. Coll. J. 2015; 9(1): 18-21

The study is about international kinship care arrangements in Ethiopia, focusing on Ethiopian children who applied for an Australian Orphan Relative Visa. A qualitative case study research method was used. Study participants were nine children between the ages of 13-17 years and nine parents/guardians of those children. Other participants were five experts from the Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs, and Federal First Instance Court. In-depth interviews were conducted using semi-structured interview guides. Additional data were also derived from observations and document reviews. Thematic data analysis was used. Data from all sources were triangulated and categorized under the themes that emerged from the data. This study identified two categories of children: those who cannot get proper care either due to the loss of parents or due to incapacity of parents to take care of them, and those children who use international kinship arrangement as a mechanism to access a better life in Australia. Children expressed their expectations to get a better education, employment, material benefits, and living conditions after placement abroad. They also expressed concerns about how well relatives abroad will treat them. The findings further revealed that the Ministry of Women, Children, and Youth Affairs was not appropriately documenting pre-placement and post-placement information. Since international kinship care is different from international adoption in its nature, there was a lack of clarity on the legal protection that should be given to children, which puts them in a precarious socio-legal situation. This study can be used as a starting point to understand and consider international kinship care arrangements as one important alternative child care option.

Acid violence is a barbaric form of violence in Bangladesh. Acid violence also called acid throwing or vitriolage, is defined as the act of throwing of strong corrosives on face and body of a person with the intention of causing permanent disfiguration, intense pain, scarring and sometimes blindness. All of these injuries are considered as ‘grievous hurt’ under section 320 of B.P.C (Bangladesh Penal Code). For the last few years it is on the rise in both urban and rural areas of Bangladesh. The perpetrators are mostly men and adolescent boys. The overwhelming majority of the victims are women and many of them are girls and young females. Recently, however, there have been acid attacks on children, older women and also men. These attacks are often the result of family and land dispute, dowry demands or a desire for revenge due to failure in love affairs or marriage proposals. It is considered as one of the extreme forms of repression and violation of women’s right. This review article is aimed to focus on the present situation of this barbaric act of vengeance against women and young adolescent girls with regard to frequency, causes, long term consequences and creating public awareness on the issue by tightly regulating the sale and transport of acid as well as enacting harsher penalties for perpetrators. Data collection is based on information from Dhaka Medical College hospital, One Stop Crisis Center (OCC), Acid Survivors’ Foundation, Naripokkho Action Aid and several Dhaka based organizations. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/imcj.v7i1.17744 Ibrahim Med. Coll. J. 2013; 7(1): 18-20

Abstract Objectives We examine the impact of a nutrition-sensitive agricultural program on the dietary diversity of women and children enrolled in the Food and Agricultural Approaches to Reducing Malnutrition (FAARM) cluster-randomized controlled trial in rural Habiganj, Sylhet, Bangladesh. The homestead food production intervention, implemented by Helen Keller International, began in mid-2015 and ended in December 2018. Methods We use four data sources: 1) baseline data (all women and their youngest child, March-May 2015); 2) surveillance data (every two months - all children 6–18m and a rotating random third of women and children 19–37m, September 2015-August 2019); 3) endline data (all women and children 6–23m, September 2019-February 2020); 4) phone survey during the COVID-19 lockdown (a random two-thirds of women, May-June 2020). We calculated dietary diversity for women (MDDW-10) and children (WHO IYCF). Our analysis included 24,931 observations of 2,701 women and 17,445 observations of 2,162 children (6–37m). We estimate the impact of the intervention on dietary diversity using multi-level regression, controlling for clustering by settlement and repeated measures. Results Dietary diversity scores and the proportion of women and children classified as consuming adequate diets varied greatly over the year, peaking in May/June with 5.3 food groups for women (out of ten) and 3.8 food groups for children (out of seven). Over all program years, intervention women had 1.8 higher odds of consuming an adequate diet compared to control women (p < 0.001). However, this benefit varied from 1.3 in the first year of the intervention (p = 0.015) to 2.3 in the last year (p < 0.001), before falling to around 1.9 in the post-intervention years (p < 0.001). We saw a nearly identical pattern in children. Dietary improvement was driven through incremental increases in nearly all food groups. Conclusions The intervention successfully increased dietary diversity in women and children, and these impacts persisted after the project closed, including during the COVID-19 lockdown period. Funding Sources The German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) is the primary funder for the FAARM trial. The U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) supported the design of the surveillance system.

Background: Vaccination is one of the most effective public health tools for the prevention of infectious diseases, morbidity and disability. Little is known about the rate of maternal immunization among mothers of children with Cerebral Palsy (CP), as well as any possible role of maternal immunization in development of CP in the newborns. Objective: To determine the socio-demographic characteristics and self-reported vaccination status of mothers of children with CP and compare vaccination coverage in this cohort with national data on immunization. The study also aims to assess the vaccination status of children with CP. Methods: A subset of the Bangladesh CP Register (BCPR) cohort of women who had children with CP were recruited during April 2017 from a community based early intervention and rehabilitation program going on in Shahjadpur. Socio-demographic characteristics and maternal immunization status were assessed using a semi-structured questionnaire. The vaccination status of the children was also assessed by interviewing mother and observing the BCG marks. All data were compared with the corresponding information among general population using national vaccination coverage survey reports of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Bangladesh. Results: Sixty-eight mothers were interviewed of which 17.6% of mothers reported not receiving any vaccine during pregnancy. Tetanus vaccine was most commonly (82.0%) received during pregnancy. Overall coverage for at least two doses of tetanus toxoid (TT) among mothers of children with CP was significantly lower than the national tetanus coverage (79.4% versus 96.4%, p<0.01). Forty-two (61.7%) mothers with a child with CP reported having not received tetanus vaccine during their pregnancy compared to only twenty (29.4%) mothers with healthy children reported missing tetanus vaccination during their pregnancy. This difference was statistically significant (p<0.01). Hepatitis B and influenza vaccine were received by mothers of children with CP during the antenatal period (2 and 6 respectively). Conclusion: Immunization among mothers of children with CP is significantly poorer than the national coverage. Also, the immunization of the children with CP is poorer than the national EPI coverage. Our findings reflect the necessity for specific strategies to improve the vaccination coverage among mothers of children with disabilities especially CP and the children with CP.

Children most times are vulnerable to abuse, unable to decide what happen to them and that is why intervention is necessary for the lives of children that are sold to unknown destinations in Nigeria. This study investigates social work intervention strategies against illegal child adoption in Enugu State, Nigeria. Mixed method design is used to authenticate data collected from questionnaire. Ministry of Gender Affairs (Welfare Unit Staff) Enugu and Welfare Office Nsukka were interviewed on the process of adoption and its efficacy. Two hundred questionnaires were shared to 200 respondents using availability sampling as method of their selection. The data were computed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 20). The findings show that majority 142 (71%) of the respondents saw adoption as acceptable and government approved while 58 (29%) said it stigmatizes and culturally disapproved. It also showed that majority 126 (63%) go for illegal adoption while 74 (37%) follow legal means. The reasons for illegal adoption – 88 (44%) said cheaper avoiding bottlenecked procedures at the social welfare; 81 (40.5%) said fear of being stigmatized by neighbours and 24 (12%) ignorance of its consequences. Some 72 (36%) said that some sell off their babies to avoid the stigma, shame, family/society’s prosecutions, 85 (42.5%) for economic reasons; 24 (12%) is to do away with the baby and continue with life and 19 (9.5%) supports all of the above reasons. Majority 157 (78.5%) said no serious attention has been given by the government to stop baby selling due to corruption of the law enforcement agencies. The entire 200 (100%) respondents agreed that social workers have many roles in preventing illegal adoption like working with the federal ministry of women or gender affairs to ensure proper child adoption and follow up after adoption to ensure the safety of the baby, since many baby buyers use them for rituals. These findings have obvious implications for social policies and future research on child welfare.

Bangladesh is a Muslim-majority society with more than 163 million people. Most Bangladeshis hold the ideals of Islamic norms and values which is manifest in all sorts of socio-cultural behaviour. In reference to such values, the tradition of legitimizing child marriage in Bangladesh is the issue that needs to be addressed in a holistic yet rigorous approach. Currently Bangladesh ranks 4th in the world and 1st in Asia in terms of child marriage. Recently the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929 has been abolished and it has been replaced by the Act of 2017 preserving article 2 of the previous statute, the legal age for marriage for a boy 21 and for a girl 18. This Act adds article 19 which legalizes minors (below 18 years of age) to be married off with the consent of the parents/guardians at the presence of a magistrate under “special circumstances” deemed with securing the best interest for them. The law artfully coincides with the Muslim Marriage Law which allows participants of 15 years and above to get legally married and as such contradicts the international law and the Act of 2017 itself. In the West intimate relationships including extra-marital cohabitation before reaching 18 years of age are culturally accepted. In contrast, such extra-marital and intimate relationships are strictly prohibited in Muslim-majority societies, which are dearly adhered in Bangladeshi Muslim culture. This study examines how the religious cultural and socio-economic realities influence child marriage practice in Bangladesh. Along with secondary documents, we interviewed 22 individuals including the Deputy Commissioner, the District Women and Children Affairs Officer, elected Union Parishad Chairman and Members, Social Workers, married couples and their parents/guardians at Manikganj district. In addition, we also conducted a mass survey with 62 randomly selected participants, and a voluntary online survey where the opinion of another 53 young students were collected to find broad opinion. We also collected stories of how marriages take place at the rural, urban and sub-urban areas in Bangladesh. The study has revealed that Bangladeshis does not support marriage at early ages but socio-economic reality often pushes poor into getting their children married at early ages. Many view that the special provision may encourage child marriage in the country. This study suggests that the government of Bangladesh should redefine public policy in regard to finding a middle ground between Islamic ethics and international values by exploring isomorphic mimicry and other socio-culturally accepted measures with a view to abolishing child marriage successfully.

The objective of the paper is to examine the current status, trend and growth of the social security program over the years in Nepal. The secondary data for four years has been used and data were obtained from the websites of the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development. There are ten different categories of beneficiaries viz. senior citizens, senior Dalits, widow, single women, endangered indigenous nationalities, Dalit children, Karnali zone children, severe affected disable, fully disable, Karnali zone senior citizens who are receiving allowances as social security benefits. The study concludes that during the study period, all allowances except treatment for senior citizens (70 years and above) increased by 100 percent. The rate of allowances was lowest for children (Karnali and Dalit) and highest rate for fully disabled, Endangered Indigenous/Nationalities. It is seen that the government is more concerned towards the health of the senior citizens 70 years and above. The number of beneficiaries viz. senior citizens all (Dalits, Karnali and others), disable (Fully and severly affected), Endangered ethnic group is in increasing trend while Single/widow and Children (Dalit and Karnali) have been found in decreasing trend. Out of five clusters, the number of elder citizens is highest followed by single widow and children of Dalit and Karnali zone. Disable (Fully and severly affected) and Endangered ethnic group are only 4 percent of total beneficiaries in 2015/16. The growth of the total beneficiaries is less than 1 percent during three year period but number of disabled increased by 95% while widow/single women decreased by 10 percent in three years. Throughout the last three fiscal years, the largest number of beneficiaries were senior citizens followed by Single women/widow and children.

Abstract Objectives To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of serum retinol (SR) and retinol-binding protein (RBP) in determining vitamin A deficiency (VAD) using the modified relative dose-response (MRDR) test as the reference. Methods Subjects included a subset of women and children participating in the Ghana Micronutrient Survey 2017. VAD was determined by the following cut-offs: SR or RBP &lt; 0.7 mmol/L; MRDR ratio of 3,4-didehydroretinol to SR ³0.060. Sensitivity, specificity and the area-under-the-receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were calculated for unadjusted and inflammation-adjusted VAD cut-offs (based on C-reactive protein (CRP) and a1-acid-glycoprotein (AGP) for SR and RBP using the MRDR test as the reference. Results In 167 children and 178 women, inflammation (elevated CRP and/or elevated AGP) was present in 41% and 16%, respectively. Prevalence of VAD ranged, depending on the indicator used, from 7% (MRDR) to 40% (unadjusted SR) in children and 1% (RBP) to 4% (SR and MRDR) in women. Among children, sensitivity and specificity of unadjusted and adjusted SR and RBP were highly variable among the children. Highest sensitivity was achieved by unadjusted SR (80% of children with VAD correctly identified), while highest specificity was achieved by adjusted RBP (86% of children without VAD correctly identified). The best predictor of VAD in children compared with MRDR was adjusted SR, with a sensitivity of 78%, specificity of 73%, and an area under the ROC curve of 0.76. Among women, specificity was 97% for unadjusted and adjusted SR with an area under the ROC curve of 0.48; additional values could not be calculated due to lack of VAD cases. Conclusions SR and RBP were only moderately sensitive and specific for identifying VAD in children in Ghana. Low specificity—falsely identifying VAD—is especially problematic when populations are covered by one or more vitamin A interventions. Overlapping sources of preformed vitamin A can lead to hypervitaminosis, which may affect bone metabolism and growth. More accurate measures should be used in conjunction with SR and RBP for evaluating VAD especially in vulnerable populations. Funding Sources UNICEF, Canada's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development.

Abstract Objectives Our objective was to compare hemoglobin concentration and anemia prevalence between (1) analysis methods, i.e., the portable HemoCue 201 + and the Sysmex XP-100 automated hematology analyzer, and (2) blood matrix, i.e., venous and capillary, in women and young children. Methods We collected capillary and venous blood samples from 349 non-pregnant women (NPW), 45 pregnant women (PW), and 167 children aged 6–36 months in rural Sylhet Division, Bangladesh in late 2019. We measured hemoglobin concentration in capillary and venous blood using HemoCue 201 + at the point of blood collection in the villages. In addition, hemoglobin concentration was measured in venous EDTA blood samples in the lab using the XP-100 Sysmex automated hematology analyzer within 6 hours of collection. Hemoglobin values were compared using paired t-tests, while anemia prevalence estimates were compared using McNemar tests. Results Venous hemoglobin concentrations were similar (mean difference: 0.3 g/L) when measured by HemoCue and the hematology analyzer. However, among NPW, there was strong evidence that anemia prevalence was higher when measured by HemoCue compared to the hematology analyzer, with similar trends in PW and children. Mean hemoglobin concentrations in capillary blood were lower overall (mean difference: 5 g/L; P ≤ 0.001) and in all subgroups (NPW, PW, and children) compared to venous blood. Anemia prevalence was higher in each population group using capillary (NPW: 37%; PW: 51%; children: 21%) compared to venous measures (NPW: 23%; PW: 36%; children: 10%). Conclusions Across all groups, capillary measures resulted in significantly lower hemoglobin concentrations and higher anemia prevalence estimates, thus likely overestimating anemia in the population. Venous blood samples measured by the two analytic methods were similar. This may point to a biological difference between capillary and venous blood. Funding Sources Data collection was primarily supported by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The first author received support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and a Thrasher Research Fund Early Career Award.

Gender equality and information and communication technology are important in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in policy, planning, and practice. The 2000 Millennium Declaration of the United Nations (UN) formed an international agreement among member states to work toward the reduction of poverty and its effects by 2015 through eight Millennium Development Goals: 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger 2. Achieve universal primary education 3. Promote gender equality and the empowerment of women 4. Reduce child and maternal mortality 5. Improve maternal health care 6. Combat HIV and AIDS, malaria, and other major diseases 7. Ensure environmental sustainability 8. Develop global partnership for development Progress toward gender equality and the empowerment of women is one goal that is important to achieving the others. Poverty, hunger, illiteracy, environmental threats, HIV and AIDS, and other health threats disproportionately affect the lives of women and their dependent children. Gender-sensitive ICT applications to education, health care, and local economies have helped communities progress toward the MDGs. ICT applications facilitate rural health-care workers’ access to medical expertise through phones and the Internet. Teachers expand learning resources through the Internet and satellite services, providing a greater knowledge base for learners. Small entrepreneurs with ICT access and training move their local business into world markets. ICT diffusion into world communication systems has been pervasive. Even some of the poorest economies in Africa show the fastest cell-phone growth, though Internet access and landline numbers are still low (International Telecommunications Union [ITU], 2003b). ICT access or a lack of it impacts participation, voice, and decision making in local, regional, and international communities. ICTs impact the systems that move or inhibit MDG progress. UN secretary general Kofi Annan explained the role of the MDGs in global affairs: Millennium Development Goals are too important to fail. For the international political system, they are the fulcrum on which development policy is based. For the billion-plus people living in extreme poverty, they represent the means to a productive life. For everyone on Earth, they are a linchpin to the quest for a more secure and peaceful world. (UN, 2005, p. 28) Annan also stressed the critical need for partnerships to facilitate technology training to enable information exchange and analysis (UN, 2005). ICT facilitates sharing lessons of success and failure, and progress evaluation of work in all the MDG target areas. Targets and indicators measuring progress were selected for all the MDGs. Gender equality and women’s empowerment are critical to the achievement of each other goal. Inadequate access to the basic human needs of clean water, food, education, health services, and environmental sustainability and the support of global partnership impacts great numbers of women. Therefore, the targets and indicators for Goal 3 address females in education, employment, and political participation. Progress toward the Goal 3 target to eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015, will be measured by the following indicators. • Ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary, and tertiary education • Ratio of literate females to males who are 15- to 24-year-olds • Share of women in wage employment in the nonagricultural sector • Proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments (World Bank, 2003) Education is positively related to improved maternal and infant health, economic empowerment, and political participation (United Nations Development Program [UNDP], 2004; World Bank, 2003). Education systems in developing countries are beginning to offer or seek ways to provide ICT training as a basic skill and knowledge base. Proactive policy for gender equality in ICT access has not always accompanied the unprecedented ICT growth trend. Many civil-society representatives to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) argue for ICT access to be considered a basic human right (Girard & Ó Soichrú, 2004; UN, 1948). ICT capability is considered a basic skill for education curriculum at tertiary, secondary, and even primary levels in developed regions. In developing regions, ICT access and capability are more limited but are still tightly woven into economic communication systems. ICTs minimize time and geography barriers. Two thirds of the world’s poor and illiterate are women (World Bank, 2003). Infant and maternal health are in chronic crisis for poor women. Where poverty is highest, HIV and AIDS are the largest and fastest growing health threat. Ninety-five percent of people living with HIV and AIDS are in developing countries, partly because of poor dissemination of information and medical treatment. Women are more vulnerable to infection than men. Culturally reinforced sexual practices have led to higher rates of HIV infection for women. Gender equality and the empowerment of women, starting with education, can help fight the spread of HIV, AIDS, and other major diseases. ICT can enhance health education through schools (World Bank). Some ICT developers, practitioners, and distributors have identified ways to incorporate gender inclusiveness into their policies and practice for problem-solving ICT applications toward each MDG target area. Yet ICT research, development, education, training, applications, and businesses remain male-dominated fields, with only the lesser skilled and salaried ICT labor force approaching gender equality. Successful integration of gender equality and ICT development policy has contributed to MDG progress through several projects in the developing regions. Notable examples are the South-African-based SchoolNet Africa and Bangladesh-based Grameen Bank Village Pay Phone. Both projects benefit from international public-private partnerships. These and similar models suggest the value and importance of linking gender equality and empowerment with global partnership for development, particularly in ICT. This article reports on developing efforts to coordinate the achievement of the MDGs with policy, plans, and practice for gender equality beyond the universal educational target, and with the expansion of ICT access and participation for women and men. The article examines the background and trends of MDG 3, to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women, with particular consideration of MDG 8, to develop global partnership for development, in ICT access and participation.