Sk Masum Billah
Biographic Data
| ID | 5464065 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sk Masum Billah |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sk Masum |
| FAMILY NAME | Billah |
| SIGNATURE | BILLAH S M |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Sydney |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8690-6932 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 0 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 0 |
A scoping review of measures to assess health professionals’ competencies related to health literacy
Health professionals play an important role in addressing health literacy and ensuring that health systems and information are easy to understand, access, and navigate. We conducted a scoping review to identify and describe measures and tools that assess health professionals’ health literacy competency related to knowledge, skills, practices, attitudes, self-efficacy, and behavioural intentions. Electronic databases MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PubMe…
Impact of cooking with liquefied petroleum gas compared with traditional cooking practices on perinatal and early neonatal mortality
Objective To determine whether liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) can reduce perinatal mortality in a setting with high reliance on biomass fuels for cooking. Design Community-based two-arm parallel cluster randomised controlled trial, in Sherpur, Bangladesh. Participants 4944 pregnant women were recruited, with 2472 in each group. Eligible women were pregnant between 40 and 120 days, aged 15–49 years, permanent residents and planning to give birth in…
Formative research in Ethiopia and Bangladesh
Background: As countries transition from implementing iron folic acid (IFA) to multiple micronutrient supplements (MMS) for pregnant women, they need accurate data on who is being reached with these interventions. The aim of our formative research in Ethiopia and Bangladesh was to design updated household survey questions, response options, and visual aids to measure coverage of prenatal micronutrient supplements. Methods: In phase I, we landscap…
Measuring and monitoring child health and well-being—an integral part of the climate change agenda
Climate change has far-reaching consequences for all aspects of human society (Romanello et al. 2023). Children are uniquely vulnerable to climate change for a multitude of physiological and developmental reasons as well as because of distinctive behaviors such as outdoor play that increase their exposure to climate-related stressors (EPA 2023). Several reviews have summarized the multiple direct and indirect pathways through which climate change…
Standardising the measurement of child health indicators within global climate adaptation
Assessing the Quality and Coverage of Maternal Postnatal Care in Bangladesh
Importantly, deliveries assisted by skilled birth attendants correlated with higher quality postnatal care. This study reveals a significant gap between the coverage and quality of postnatal care in rural Bangladesh, especially for home births. It underscores the need for targeted interventions to enhance qPNC
Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices Towards Covid-19 Among Pregnant and Postpartum Women in Rural Bangladesh
We found that improved knowledge was associated with positive attitudes and behaviours that lead to the adoption of preventive measures. There was no association with ANC practices as attendance was very low in this region. The findings could be utilised to develop communication strategies for future public health emergencies in similar settings
Implementing maternal and newborn health quality of care standards in healthcare facilities to improve the adoption of respectful maternity care in Bangladesh, Ghana and Tanzania
INTRODUCTION: Many women worldwide cannot access respectful maternity care (RMC). We assessed the effect of implementing maternal and newborn health (MNH) quality of care standards on RMC measures. METHODS: We used a facility-based controlled before and after design in 43 healthcare facilities in Bangladesh, Ghana and Tanzania. Interviews with women and health workers and observations of labour and childbirth were used for data collection. We est…
Using scenario‐based assessments to examine the feasibility of integrating preventive nutrition services through the primary health care system in Bangladesh
The National Nutrition Services of Bangladesh aims to deliver nutrition services through the primary health care system. Little is known about the feasibility of reshaping service delivery to close gaps in nutrition intervention coverage and utilization. We used a scenario-based feasibility testing approach to assess potential implementation improvements to strengthen service delivery. We conducted in-depth interviews with 31 service providers an…
The effect of electronic job aid assisted one‐to‐one counselling to support exclusive breastfeeding among 0–5‐month‐old infants in rural Bangladesh
Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for the first 6 months has established benefits, yet had slow improvements globally. Little is known about electronic job aid-assisted counselling to support EBF. As a secondary outcome of a cluster randomized controlled trial in Bangladesh, we assessed the effect of electronic job aid-supported nutrition counselling and practical demonstration on EBF. We randomized pregnant women to one of five study arms in the tri…
An Uninformed Decision-Making Process for Cesarean Section
The decision-making process and the information flow from physicians to patients regarding deliveries through cesarean section (C-section) has not been adequately explored in Bangladeshi context. Here, we aimed to explore the extent of information received by mothers and their family members and their involvement in the decision-making process. We conducted a qualitative exploratory study in four urban slums of Dhaka city among purposively select…
Pregnant Women’s Exposure to Household Air Pollution in Rural Bangladesh
The use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for cooking is a strategy to reduce household air pollution (HAP) exposure and improve health. We conducted this feasibility study to evaluate personal exposure measurement methods to representatively assess reductions in HAP exposure. We enrolled 30 pregnant women to wear a MicroPEM for 24 h to assess their HAP exposure when cooking with a traditional stove (baseline) and with an LPG stove (intervention).…
Revitalizing child health
Essential health, education and other service disruptions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic risk reversing some of the hard-won gains in improving child survival over the past 40 years. Although children have milder symptoms of COVID-19 disease than adults, pandemic control measures in many countries have disrupted health, education and other services for children, often leaving them without access to birth and postnatal care, vaccinations and e…
Effect of nutrition counselling with a digital job aid on child dietary diversity
Adequate dietary diversity among infants is often suboptimal in developing countries. We assessed the impact of nutrition counselling using a digital job aid on dietary diversity of children aged 6-23 months using data from a cluster randomised controlled trial in Bangladesh. The trial had five arms, each with 25 clusters. The four intervention arms provided counselling using a digital job aid and different prenatal and post-natal combinations of…
Self-adopted ‘natural users’ of liquid petroleum gas for household cooking by pregnant women in rural Bangladesh
The use of clean fuel such as liquid petroleum gas (LPG) is globally recommended for household cooking to reduce exposure to household air pollution and its adverse health consequences. Adoption of LPG in resource-poor settings such as South Asia is low and driven by many factors. In Bangladesh, more than 90% of the rural population relies on biomass fuels for cooking. Identifying factors among households that self-adopt LPG, i.e. ‘natural users’…
A Feasibility Study Assessing Acceptability and Supply Issues of Distributing LPG Cookstoves and Gas Cylinders to Pregnant Women Living in Rural Bangladesh for Poriborton
Our aim was to develop a protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial to assess the impact of liquid petroleum gas (LPG) cooking compared to usual cooking on perinatal mortality in pregnant women in rural Bangladesh. We, therefore, aimed to assess the feasibility of the planned trial and the barriers/facilitators of distributing LPG to rural households. We conducted a feasibility study in rural Bangladesh using an iterative design. We inclu…
An Association between Rainy Days with Clinical Dengue Fever in Dhaka, Bangladesh
Dengue is transmitted throughout the year in Zone-5 of DCC, with seasonal variation in incidence. The number of rainy days per month is significantly associated with dengue incidence in the subsequent month. Our study suggests the initiation of campaigns in DCC for controlling dengue and other Aedes mosquito borne diseases, including Chikunguniya from the month of May each year. BMD rainfall data may be used to determine campaign timing
Bangladesh
BACKGROUND: Bangladesh had a large reduction in childhood deaths due to diarrhoeal disease in recent decades. This paper explores the preventive, promotive, curative and contextual drivers that helped Bangladesh achieve this exemplary success. METHODS: Primary and secondary data collection approaches were used to document trends in reduction of Diarrhoea Specific Mortality Rate (DSMR) between 1980 and 2015, understand what policies and programmes…
Implementation outcomes of the national scale up of chlorhexidine cord cleansing in Bangladesh’s public health system
BACKGROUND: Chlorhexidine (CHX) cleansing of the umbilical cord stump is an evidence-based intervention that reduces newborn infections and is recommended for high-mortality settings. Bangladesh is one of the first countries to adopt and scale up CHX nationally. This study evaluates the implementation outcomes for the CHX scale up in Bangladesh and identifies and describes key milestones and processes for the scale up. METHODS: We adapted the RE-…
Feasibility of engaging “Village Doctors” in the Community-based Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (C-IMCI)
BACKGROUND: Informal health care providers particularly "village doctors" are the first point of care for under-five childhood illnesses in rural Bangladesh. We engaged village doctors as part of the Multi-Country Evaluation (MCE) of Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) and assessed their management of sick under-five children before and after a modified IMCI training, supplemented with ongoing monitoring and supportive supervision. …
A community-based cluster randomized controlled trial (cRCT) to evaluate the impact and operational assessment of “safe motherhood and newborn health promotion package”
NCT03032276
A community-based cluster randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of different bundles of nutrition-specific interventions in improving mean length-for-age z score among children at …
The study was retrospectively registered on May 2, 2016 and is available online at ClinicalTrials.gov (ID: NCT02768181 )
No prominent works on this page.
A community-based cluster randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of different bundles of nutrition-specific interventions in improving mean length-for-age z score among children at …
The study was retrospectively registered on May 2, 2016 and is available online at ClinicalTrials.gov (ID: NCT02768181 )
Feasibility of engaging “Village Doctors” in the Community-based Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (C-IMCI)
BACKGROUND: Informal health care providers particularly "village doctors" are the first point of care for under-five childhood illnesses in rural Bangladesh. We engaged village doctors as part of the Multi-Country Evaluation (MCE) of Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) and assessed their management of sick under-five children before and after a modified IMCI training, supplemented with ongoing monitoring and supportive supervision. …
A community-based cluster randomized controlled trial (cRCT) to evaluate the impact and operational assessment of “safe motherhood and newborn health promotion package”
NCT03032276
Bangladesh
BACKGROUND: Bangladesh had a large reduction in childhood deaths due to diarrhoeal disease in recent decades. This paper explores the preventive, promotive, curative and contextual drivers that helped Bangladesh achieve this exemplary success. METHODS: Primary and secondary data collection approaches were used to document trends in reduction of Diarrhoea Specific Mortality Rate (DSMR) between 1980 and 2015, understand what policies and programmes…
Implementation outcomes of the national scale up of chlorhexidine cord cleansing in Bangladesh’s public health system
BACKGROUND: Chlorhexidine (CHX) cleansing of the umbilical cord stump is an evidence-based intervention that reduces newborn infections and is recommended for high-mortality settings. Bangladesh is one of the first countries to adopt and scale up CHX nationally. This study evaluates the implementation outcomes for the CHX scale up in Bangladesh and identifies and describes key milestones and processes for the scale up. METHODS: We adapted the RE-…
Self-adopted ‘natural users’ of liquid petroleum gas for household cooking by pregnant women in rural Bangladesh
The use of clean fuel such as liquid petroleum gas (LPG) is globally recommended for household cooking to reduce exposure to household air pollution and its adverse health consequences. Adoption of LPG in resource-poor settings such as South Asia is low and driven by many factors. In Bangladesh, more than 90% of the rural population relies on biomass fuels for cooking. Identifying factors among households that self-adopt LPG, i.e. ‘natural users’…
A Feasibility Study Assessing Acceptability and Supply Issues of Distributing LPG Cookstoves and Gas Cylinders to Pregnant Women Living in Rural Bangladesh for Poriborton
Our aim was to develop a protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial to assess the impact of liquid petroleum gas (LPG) cooking compared to usual cooking on perinatal mortality in pregnant women in rural Bangladesh. We, therefore, aimed to assess the feasibility of the planned trial and the barriers/facilitators of distributing LPG to rural households. We conducted a feasibility study in rural Bangladesh using an iterative design. We inclu…
An Association between Rainy Days with Clinical Dengue Fever in Dhaka, Bangladesh
Dengue is transmitted throughout the year in Zone-5 of DCC, with seasonal variation in incidence. The number of rainy days per month is significantly associated with dengue incidence in the subsequent month. Our study suggests the initiation of campaigns in DCC for controlling dengue and other Aedes mosquito borne diseases, including Chikunguniya from the month of May each year. BMD rainfall data may be used to determine campaign timing
Revitalizing child health
Essential health, education and other service disruptions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic risk reversing some of the hard-won gains in improving child survival over the past 40 years. Although children have milder symptoms of COVID-19 disease than adults, pandemic control measures in many countries have disrupted health, education and other services for children, often leaving them without access to birth and postnatal care, vaccinations and e…
Effect of nutrition counselling with a digital job aid on child dietary diversity
Adequate dietary diversity among infants is often suboptimal in developing countries. We assessed the impact of nutrition counselling using a digital job aid on dietary diversity of children aged 6-23 months using data from a cluster randomised controlled trial in Bangladesh. The trial had five arms, each with 25 clusters. The four intervention arms provided counselling using a digital job aid and different prenatal and post-natal combinations of…
Using scenario‐based assessments to examine the feasibility of integrating preventive nutrition services through the primary health care system in Bangladesh
The National Nutrition Services of Bangladesh aims to deliver nutrition services through the primary health care system. Little is known about the feasibility of reshaping service delivery to close gaps in nutrition intervention coverage and utilization. We used a scenario-based feasibility testing approach to assess potential implementation improvements to strengthen service delivery. We conducted in-depth interviews with 31 service providers an…
The effect of electronic job aid assisted one‐to‐one counselling to support exclusive breastfeeding among 0–5‐month‐old infants in rural Bangladesh
Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for the first 6 months has established benefits, yet had slow improvements globally. Little is known about electronic job aid-assisted counselling to support EBF. As a secondary outcome of a cluster randomized controlled trial in Bangladesh, we assessed the effect of electronic job aid-supported nutrition counselling and practical demonstration on EBF. We randomized pregnant women to one of five study arms in the tri…
An Uninformed Decision-Making Process for Cesarean Section
The decision-making process and the information flow from physicians to patients regarding deliveries through cesarean section (C-section) has not been adequately explored in Bangladeshi context. Here, we aimed to explore the extent of information received by mothers and their family members and their involvement in the decision-making process. We conducted a qualitative exploratory study in four urban slums of Dhaka city among purposively select…
Pregnant Women’s Exposure to Household Air Pollution in Rural Bangladesh
The use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for cooking is a strategy to reduce household air pollution (HAP) exposure and improve health. We conducted this feasibility study to evaluate personal exposure measurement methods to representatively assess reductions in HAP exposure. We enrolled 30 pregnant women to wear a MicroPEM for 24 h to assess their HAP exposure when cooking with a traditional stove (baseline) and with an LPG stove (intervention).…
Implementing maternal and newborn health quality of care standards in healthcare facilities to improve the adoption of respectful maternity care in Bangladesh, Ghana and Tanzania
INTRODUCTION: Many women worldwide cannot access respectful maternity care (RMC). We assessed the effect of implementing maternal and newborn health (MNH) quality of care standards on RMC measures. METHODS: We used a facility-based controlled before and after design in 43 healthcare facilities in Bangladesh, Ghana and Tanzania. Interviews with women and health workers and observations of labour and childbirth were used for data collection. We est…
Assessing the Quality and Coverage of Maternal Postnatal Care in Bangladesh
Importantly, deliveries assisted by skilled birth attendants correlated with higher quality postnatal care. This study reveals a significant gap between the coverage and quality of postnatal care in rural Bangladesh, especially for home births. It underscores the need for targeted interventions to enhance qPNC
Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices Towards Covid-19 Among Pregnant and Postpartum Women in Rural Bangladesh
We found that improved knowledge was associated with positive attitudes and behaviours that lead to the adoption of preventive measures. There was no association with ANC practices as attendance was very low in this region. The findings could be utilised to develop communication strategies for future public health emergencies in similar settings
Standardising the measurement of child health indicators within global climate adaptation
A scoping review of measures to assess health professionals’ competencies related to health literacy
Health professionals play an important role in addressing health literacy and ensuring that health systems and information are easy to understand, access, and navigate. We conducted a scoping review to identify and describe measures and tools that assess health professionals’ health literacy competency related to knowledge, skills, practices, attitudes, self-efficacy, and behavioural intentions. Electronic databases MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PubMe…
Impact of cooking with liquefied petroleum gas compared with traditional cooking practices on perinatal and early neonatal mortality
Objective To determine whether liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) can reduce perinatal mortality in a setting with high reliance on biomass fuels for cooking. Design Community-based two-arm parallel cluster randomised controlled trial, in Sherpur, Bangladesh. Participants 4944 pregnant women were recruited, with 2472 in each group. Eligible women were pregnant between 40 and 120 days, aged 15–49 years, permanent residents and planning to give birth in…
Formative research in Ethiopia and Bangladesh
Background: As countries transition from implementing iron folic acid (IFA) to multiple micronutrient supplements (MMS) for pregnant women, they need accurate data on who is being reached with these interventions. The aim of our formative research in Ethiopia and Bangladesh was to design updated household survey questions, response options, and visual aids to measure coverage of prenatal micronutrient supplements. Methods: In phase I, we landscap…
Measuring and monitoring child health and well-being—an integral part of the climate change agenda
Climate change has far-reaching consequences for all aspects of human society (Romanello et al. 2023). Children are uniquely vulnerable to climate change for a multitude of physiological and developmental reasons as well as because of distinctive behaviors such as outdoor play that increase their exposure to climate-related stressors (EPA 2023). Several reviews have summarized the multiple direct and indirect pathways through which climate change…
Medicine (17 works) · Environmental health (15 works) · Global Maternal and Child Health (11 works) · Nursing (11 works) · Population (9 works) · Child Nutrition and Water Access (8 works) · Public health (8 works) · Family medicine (7 works) · Cluster randomised controlled trial (5 works) · Psychological intervention (5 works)