Urban Planning and Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

Background: Anemia is a condition that can negatively impact the strength, productivity, and cognition of an individual. Underlying causes are often micronutrient deficiencies or infectious diseases. In South Asia, the prevalence of anemia in preschool children has been estimated to be as high as 47% and micronutrient deficiencies are common. Aim: To determine the prevalence of anemia and its association with socio-demographic factors and micronutrient deficiencies in 4.5-year old children in Matlab, Bangladesh. Methods: Cross-sectional study based on secondary data collected within a prenatal food and micronutrient supplementation trial. Biomarker analyses of hemoglobin, iron, folate and vitamin B12 were carried out, and the prevalence of anemia and micronutrient deficiencies was determined. Information on maternal socio-demographic characteristics was collected in a previous study within the trial. Multiple logistic regression was carried out to investigate associations. Results: In total, 1,354 children participated in the study. The prevalence of anemia was 8% and associations were found with maternal education and season of blood testing. Children of mothers with ≥ 6 years of formal education, and the children giving blood in season 2 (mid-June – mid-October) and season 3 (mid-October – mid-February) had reduced risks of anemia by ≥ 48%. Deficiencies of iron, folate, and vitamin B12 were rare and not associated with anemia. Conclusion A much lower prevalence of anemia than anticipated was found in children in Matlab, Bangladesh. One reason could be the long presence of The International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh, which carries out research and provides health care.

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During the last few years the agriculture sector is facing danger in many ways. Conversion of agricultural land in non-agricultural uses is one of the main reasons to follow. Why the land is decreasing, how it is converted to non-agricultural purposes is the important matter of concern at present. The study is going to answer why the land is decreasing, how it is converted to non-agricultural uses and what might be the consequences for improper uses of agricultural land. In Bangladesh most of the people live in rural areas and makes Bangladesh predominantly rural. The development in rural seems development of agriculture. But the agricultural land is decreasing day by day. Poverty, rapid population growth, improper uses of land, lack of interest in agriculture, conventional system of irrigation, Real Estate companies etc are playing a critical role for decreasing agricultural land. Besides this, a nature itself is also responsible for land degradation. Flood, drought and salinity due to climate change are very common in Bangladesh thus the result is land degradation. As a result, soil fertility, crop productivity, and food security might be seriously in danger. But it is important to keep full of life this sector for land-scarce country like Bangladesh or else the consequences might be terrible. Food insecurity, unsustainable environment, economic downturn, agricultural productivity decrease and social decay etc are the important matters to consider.   Key words: Land degradation, Agriculture, Land Zoning

The rapid and wide scale environmental spread of multi-drug resistant bacteria is a seriousissue in recent years. Drug resistant bacteria have already occupied different ecologicalniches in many places, from wilderness to densely populated urban areas. To investigate theecological niches in Bangladesh samples were collected from wild migratory bird speciesOpen Bill Stork (Anastomus oscitans) and from the nearby water sources where these birdsvisited. A total of 76 E. coli isolates from the 170 OBS (Open Bill Stork) fecal samples and8 E. coli isolates from 3 river sources were isolated. Disk diffusion was used for checking thesusceptibility of the isolates against antibiotics that are common in human and veterinarymedicine in Bangladesh. It was found that 28.95%OBS and all water E. coli isolates wereresistant to at least one of the tested antibiotics. Common resistant phenotypes wereAmpicillin, Tetracycline, Aztreonam, Nalidixic Acid and Ciprofloxacin. Multi-drugresistance identified from 2.63%OBS and most of the water isolates. Very fewESBL(Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactamase) producing E. coli were found from OBS,whereas 50% of E. coli water isolates were ESBL producer, with all the ESBL producerspossessing the CTX-M-15 gene. The most concerning aspect of our findings was the presenceof human associated E. coli sequence types in water samples, for example ST156-complex156, ST10-complex10 and ST46. This study concludes the contaminationof environmental niches in Bangladesh by resistant bacteria.

The petroleum industry is generally regarded as one of the most secretive sectors and Bangladesh's petroleum sector is no exception. In this thesis I examine how transparency, supposedly an opposite notion to secrecy, works in Bangladesh's petroleum sector. Of the many possible aspects of transparency, the study mainly focuses on its information flowfacilitating and accountability-enhancing aspects, and on two benchmarks of transparency, namely, access to information and public participation in the decision-making process. Examination of field data through the lens of these two benchmarks leads to the finding that within a legal framework, both transparency-promoting and transparency-inhibiting modes of approaches can coexist; it is actually the actors whose actions determine the overall transparency outcome in this sector with the actors preferring one mode over the other. It is also found that factors such as perceptions, attitudes, cultures and even prejudices of the actors involved in the sector can influence the actions of the actors when they apply rules and procedures in the petroleum sector on a day-to-day basis. Depending on such influence the actors' actions or the positions they adopt may either impede or promote transparency in practice. However, it has also been found that while the petroleum industry's approach to transparency may not be on a par with the benchmarks of transparency that this research set out to explore, the industry indeed has its own kind of transparency occasions. The research examines each of these occasions, exploring their meeting and departing points with the transparency benchmarks, and looks for answers and explanations. The findings, therefore, may help develop a nuanced understanding of the workings of the petroleum sector generally," and its interplay with transparency particularly.

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Pesticides are widely used for preventing crop losses due to pest attack. In Bangladesh, the food safety and health of farmers are being compromised as a result of poor regulation concerning usage of pesticides in food production. The aim of this study was to identify and quantify pesticides applied on cucumber crops in Bangladesh. A method for extraction and clean-up was developed to allow the quantification of four pesticides by GC-ECD in vegetable samples, specifically cucumber. The accuracy of the method was validated using recovery and its precision by studying the standard deviation and relative standard deviation. Analysis of cucumber samples obtained in the field showed no traces of the target pesticides. The results indicate that different types of chemicals are used on the examined crops. It is also believed that the growth habit of cucumber may affect the exposure to pesticides. To overcome the health hazards, restrictions regarding the types and quantities of chemicals used on the fields need to be implemented. Further studies would benefit from being executed in a controlled environment, and monitoring of which substances that are applied at which amounts.