Browsing by Author "Roy, Tapash"

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Exploring Mental Health Status and Psychosocial Support Among Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh
(Emerald Publishing Limited, 2023-03-08) Ullah, Abu Naser Zafar; Pratley, Pierre; Islam, Md. Shariful; Islam, Khaleda; Roy, Tapash
Rohingyas—an ethnic and religious minority of Rakhine State—have long been subject to unspeakable suppression and atrocities from the Myanmar authorities [1]. These Rohingya populations were stripped off their citizenship rights, forcing them to live as stateless citizen within their own country. In addition, there were serious discrimination, marginalization, and denial of their enjoyment of basic human rights, which led to repeated mass migration to Bangladesh [2]. Since August 2017, there have been further escalation of violence and suppressive activities in the Rakhine State, which resulted in massive exodus of nearly a million of Rohingya population into Bangladesh. They joined to >200,000 residual Rohingyas who are already liv- ing in two megacamps in the south-east district Cox’s Bazar [3, 4]. Despite the remarkable efforts from the Government of Bangladesh, United Nations, and their partners, the majority of the Rohingya refugees are still living in desperate and overcrowded conditions. Makeshift life in camps poses challenges to their cultural, religious, and gender norms, traditions, and identities. Although the basic health services are generally adequate and well-organized, the mental health and social care services are quite rudimentary [4]. Conse- quently, the mental health and psychological conditions among refugees remained unaddressed, rather they continue to deteriorate further. These limitations of mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) services are making the refu- gees psychosocially vulnerable and putting extra pressure on their already unstable minds [4].
Eye diseases: The neglected health condition among urban slum population of Dhaka, Bangladesh
(BMC, 1/31/2019) Sutradhar, Ipsita; Gayen, Priyanka; Hasan, Mehedi; Gupta, Rajat Das; Roy, Tapash; Sarker, Malabika
Introduction: Globally, eye diseases are considered as one of the major contributors of nonfatal disabling conditions. In Bangladesh, 1.5% of adults are blind and 21.6% have low vision. Therefore, this paper aimed to identify the community-based prevalence and associated risk factors of eye diseases among slum dwellers of Dhaka city. Methods: The study was carried out in two phases. In the first phase, a survey was conducted using multistage cluster sampling among 1320 households of three purposively selected slums in Dhaka city. From each household, one family member (≥ 18 years old) was randomly interviewed by trained data collectors using a structured questionnaire. After that, each of the participants was requested to take part in the second phase of the study. Following the request, 432 participants out of 1320 participants came into the tertiary care hospitals where they were clinically assessed by ophthalmologist for presence of eye diseases. A number of descriptive and inferential statistics were performed using Stata 13. Result: The majority of total 432 study participants were female (68.6%), married (82.6%) and Muslim (98.8%). Among them almost all (92.8%) were clinically diagnosed with eye disease. The most prevalent eye diseases were refractive error (63.2%), conjunctivitis (17.1%), visual impairment (16.4%) and cataract (7.2%). Refractive error was found significantly associated with older age, female gender and income generating work. Cataract was found negatively associated with the level of education, however, opposite relationship was found between cataract and visual impairment. Conclusion: Our study provides epidemiologic data on the prevalence of eye diseases among adult population in low-income urban community of Dhaka city. The high prevalence of refractive error, allergic conjunctivitis, visual impairment, and cataract among this group of people suggests the importance of increasing access to eye care services.
Holistic Approach to Tuberculosis Detection, Treatment and Prevention
(Daffodil International University, 2022-02-25) Ullah, Abu Naser Zafar; Shrestha, Sourya; Malik, Amyn A.; Roy, Tapash
The global fight against tuberculosis (TB) has gained momentum since the adoption of the ‘End TB Strategy’ in 2014 [1], and the inclusion of ‘ending the TB epidemic’ as a target within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3 in 2015 [1,2]. During the past two decades, improvements in quality-assured diagnosis and treatment of TB has contributed to saving more than 40 million lives and reducing TB mortality rates by more than 40% globally [3]. However, we have not been as successful in reducing TB incidence rates: TB incidence is declining by 2% per year globally, far behind the pace necessary to meet the End TB targets [1,3]. Therefore, adopting a holistic approach that combines interventions that are biomedically oriented or focused on social protection, and that are tailored to regional, national and local contexts, is required. As such, countries will need to strengthen their health and social sectors (e.g., by making progress towards achieving universal health coverage, or increasing social protection), as emphasized within the framework of the new SDG agenda [2]. Yet, all this may still not be enough to end the TB epidemic, and will further require not just innovation of novel tools, but also innovative ways of using existing tools, that is shaped by emerging evidence from the field. This Special Issue provides an opportunity to publish the compelling evidence right from the field level in regard to the essentials of operationalizing the principles, pillars and components of the End TB Strategy and the United Nations High-Level Meeting (UNHLM) on TB.