Non-communicable disease (NCD) is now a burning public health issue in Bangladesh. Among crucial NCD risk factors, widespread low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels is of top concern in Bangladesh. Over the last ten years, through an extensive nationwide investigation in Bangladesh, we found that more than 80% apparently healthy rural women in Bangladesh have low HDL-C levels. Thus, the present study investigated whether a lifestyle intervention program through daily walking could improve the low HDL-C levels in these women. A total of 231 rural women in Bangladesh were studied using an interventional approach, and analysis was performed based on a case-control design between low HDL-C and normal HDL-C. The subjects underwent a ten-week daily walking program (1.5 km walk twice a day). Among 231 participants at baseline, those with low HDL-C levels were 82.5%. Mean total HDL-C levels were 39.4 mg/dl in low HDL-C subjects and 56.1 mg/dl in normal HDL-C subjects, respectively, at baseline levels. The percentage of hypertriglyceridemia was 25.5% in low, and 10.3% in normal HDL-C subjects and the percentage of diabetes mellitus was 16.4% in low and 7.7% in normal HDL-C subjects before the exercise intervention. Although blood glucose levels and blood pressure were not changed significantly after the exercise intervention, low HDL-C levels were significantly improved with exercise (baseline, 39.8 ± 0.56; exercised, 46.3 ± 1.01, p < 0.001). The current research findings show that even a 10-week mild exercise program improved low HDL-C levels in rural Bangladeshi women, which can be a potential strategy for the prevention of NCD.

In Bangladesh, the surge of cases due to the emergence of Omicron had initially been a cause of worry for experts. With time, there have been many changes brought to structures in Bangladesh to cope with and work around COVID-19. However, with coronavirus cases rising over and over again, some changes have become permanent. The aim of this paper is to find out what measures have been taken in Bangladesh to keep the cases under control from Omicron and compare it to other South Asian countries.

Diabetes mellitus, a life-threatening non-communicable disease, is now an epidemiclevel problem in developed countries, and also prevalent in developing countries, including Bangladesh. Bangladesh has been facing a significant and growing burden of diabetes mellitus handling in recent decades. In the present study, we investigated whether a daily walking intervention could improve the fasting blood sugar level in newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus participants in rural Bangladesh who were not on medication. A rural population of 1,045 people in Bangladesh were screened for diabetes mellitus. One hundred fifty-six people, including 87 diabetes mellitus participants, went through a 5-month daily walking program (twice daily, 1.5 km walking each time). In our initial screening, the prevalence of newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus cases was 8.5% in the rural population. Mean fasting blood sugar level in these new diabetes mellitus cases was 10.0 ± 0.33 mmol/L. After five months of exercise, both the fasting blood sugar and 2h OGTT sugar levels were significantly improved, and no DM (diabetes mellitus) cases were on medication. The current research findings show that a walking program can be a potential lifestyle intervention to combat the diabetes mellitus epidemic in a poor rural context in Bangladesh.