This study was conducted among people in the two southern most sub-districts or Upazilas (Teknaf and Ukhiya) of Bangladesh. This area is known nationally and internationally for a number of reasons including the presence of Rohingya refugees, the longest sea beach in the world, the location of a crucial international border between Bangladesh and Myanmar, and its Rakhaine ethnic population. This study focuses on the host community people of these two Upazilas from a nutritional lens. Objectives To assess the socio-economic status, infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices, household food security levels, hygiene, sanitation and healthcare seeking behavior, and also the nutritional status of children under-five among the population of Teknaf and Ukhiya Upazilas of Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. The study employed a cross sectional approach. A total of 300 households with at least one 6-59 month old child were randomly selected by two stage cluster sampling in 2014. Data was collected through direct interviews with the participants using a structured questionnaire. Analysis of the data was carried out using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (version16.0 SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL, USA) and Emergency Nutrition Assessment (ENA) software. Food security was measured by Household Food Insecurity Access Score (HFIAS). The study found that 43.6% of the children were breastfed within 1 hour of birth, 41.9% ofthe children were exclusively breastfed up to six months, and the average duration of exclusive breastfeeding was 5.2 months. Age appropriate meal frequency was found inaccurate for 60.3% of the children aged 9-11 month. The rates of severe stunting, wasting, and underweight among the children were 16.0%, 3.0% and 14.6% respectively. Among the households, 46.9% were severely food insecure. It was found that household food insecurity was significantly associated with household income (p=0.000), maternal education (p=0.000),and stunting (p= 0.005) and wasting (p=0.044) for children under-five. Overall IYCF practices, nutritional status of under-five children and household food security among the studied population were not at a satisfactory level and the status was lower than reference data for the same region.

Background/ObjectivesThis study examined the best practices with regard to infant and young child feeding in emergency (IYCF-E) program. This was done by observing a breastfeeding support scenario through wet nursing in Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.MethodsInformation on demographics, IYCF-E knowledge, wet nursing support, type of constraints faced, and possible ways to overcome such constraints was collected through face-to-face interviews with 24 conveniently selected wet nurses. Linear regression was used to analyze the associations.ResultsMean age of wet nurses was 21.6 years; 16.67% had adequate knowledge about IYCF-E; and 29.17% had prior knowledge about wet nursing. Mean age of supported infants was 1.29 months, and 58.33% had a familial relationship with the wet nurses. Duration of breastfeeding support was significantly associated with the wet nurse’s age, age of the wet nurses’ youngest children, familial relationship with infants, knowledge about IYCF-E, and follow-ups from community nutrition workers (Ps <0.05). The status of facing problems (58.33%) was negatively correlated with duration of wet nursing, although this association was not statistically significant. The most extensively reported problems were as follows: misunderstandings with the infant’s family (85.71%), family workload and time limitations (21.43%), household distance (42.86%), and family members’ poor compliance (21.43%). Counseling from community nutrition workers (64.29%) and mediation by community leaders (57.14%) played key roles in mitigating such problems. Self-satisfaction (37.50%), counseling (62.50%), and religious inspiration (58.33%) were key motivators behind dedicated breastfeeding support.ConclusionWet nursing in the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh, was associated with several factors involving both supply and demand. The present findings may help design better IYCF-E programs in similar context.

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Waste is a discarded part generated from primary use of a material. In most cases, waste is very much unwanted and unusable but may be usable and beneficial for our economy and environment. Waste collectors are playing vital roles for the management of wastes though they are deprived of their basic needs. They are involved directly or indirectly to our economy and environmental development. However, whether waste collection activity has any effect on the socioeconomic status, hygiene practices, and microbial exposure of waste collectors remain unknown. Here we investigated socio-economic status, hygiene practices and microbial exposure of the waste collectors of Dhaka city in Bangladesh. This study included two types of waste collectors in Dhaka city. One is the household waste collectors (HWCs) who belong to the formal waste management system of the city corporation and the other is the street waste collectors (SWCs) who belong to the informal waste management system that is executed mainly by the vulnerable groups of people locally called &quot;Tokai&quot;. The total sample size was 150 (75 HWCs and 75 SWCs) who were randomly selected from 15 different sites (clusters) of the city. The research findings showed that 20% waste collectors were children and 76.67% were illiterate. The majority (72.7%) earned less than 150 BDT/day but the lion&rsquo;s share was spent on food. The coverage of sanitary toilet facility was 42.0% whereas 70.7% SWCs had no toilet facility. The majority (82.7%) used to drink untreated water and 41.3% had disease episode in previous 30 days of data collection time. Only 28.0% waste collectors had bathing facility at home. Noticeably, no waste collector was wearing mask, gloves and apron while handling the waste. Analysis found that the status of HWCs was better than that of SWCs. Association among the variables showed that significant relationship existed between income level and percentage of expenditure on foods, types of drinking water and disease episode in previous 30 days, types of toilet used and hand washing practices. Microbiological analysis showed that the waste collectors were more exposed to the microbial hazards than the normal people. HWCs and SWCs included in this study belong to vulnerable groups of Bangladesh. They are playing vital roles for cleaning and developing environmental conditions and living standards of Dhaka city though their contributions were mostly unrecognized. The present results suggested that socio-economic status, hygiene practices and microbial exposure of waste collectors of Dhaka city in Bangladesh are in poor and critical conditions. To address the present needs, proper measures should be taken by the coordinated activities (short and long-term) of both govt. and non-govt. organizations.