This study aimed to assess the knowledge and practice of caregivers and their relationship to the disease and nutritional status of children under 5 years of age in rural areas of Sylhet, Bangladesh. A total of 110 households with at least a child aged 6 to 59 months were selected by simple random method from 10 rural communities of three Upazila of Sylhet from September 2019 to February 2020. Descriptive statistics were used to assess the “Water Access, Sanitation, and Hygiene” (WASH) knowledge and practice, and multivariate chi-square analyses were performed to assess associations among diseases and nutritional status with WASH following a structured questionnaire. The study found a significant association between WASH with childhood disease and nutritional status, and 65% of children were found to be in a diseased state and 35% of children were found in a no exposure of disease state within the last 6 months. The findings sketched that mother with poor WASH knowledge and practice was at greater risk for disease outbreaks, disease frequency, and duration. The highest incidence of diarrhea was 17% in children aged 12 to 23 months. A significant effect of WASH was also found in children’s nutritional status, which was reflected in the ratio of stunted, underweight, and wasted children. Integrated convergent work focusing on providing clean water within the household, stopping open defecation, promoting handwashing, behavior change, and poverty alleviation is needed to improve the situation. Health, nutrition, and livelihood programs should be uninterrupted, and mothers or caregivers should be encouraged to participate in these programs.

This study identifies how climate change-induced events affect the livelihoods of haor fishers and what coping strategies are adopted by the fishing community to tackle the ongoing climate change. A number of qualitative tools such as interviews, focus group discussions and oral history were employed to collect empirical data. The vulnerabilities related to climate change included fluctuation of temperature and rainfall, frequent occurrences of natural calamities, and outbreaks of damning diseases. Fishers were found to survive initially on income through illegal fishing while enjoying relief from the government by taking an immediate loan from NGOs for any calamity. In the case of long-term strategies, improvement of physical capital, harvesting rainwater, and tree plantation around houses are found as common strategies. A number of suggestions were elicited from fishers’ perceptions to confront the vulnerabilities of environmental changes effectively.

The Government of Bangladesh has taken several initiatives to conserve fish, including the national fish hilsa shad (Tenualosa ilisha), and enhance community development. This chapter assesses the role and contributions of compensation schemes that support fisheries conservation and livelihood sustainability. Under this scheme, the government established six fish sanctuaries and enforced several different fishing ban seasons. Simultaneously, the government adopted an alternative income generation and compensation scheme for lost income during fishing bans. These bans include hilsa fishing ban and juvenile (jatka) fishing ban in the sanctuaries, marine fishing ban in the Bay of Bengal, and a freshwater fishing ban in the Kaptai lake. Although these bans appear to be effective in achieving ecological outcomes, they have led to adverse impacts on livelihoods, including loss of income, long-term indebtedness, and less nutritional intake. This study recommends an improved compensation scheme and logistical support, a participatory management plan, and a strengthened legal framework towards sustainable fisheries resource management and livelihood development within fishing communities in Bangladesh.

The climate of Bangladesh has changed drastically which may put considerable adverse impacts on mangrove fishers; however, very few studies focused on this professional group. An attempt was made to perceive the impact and adaptation measures of the Sundarbans mangrove resource users, employing interviews and focus group discussions. A total of 150 respondents were randomly selected from the Sundarbans west under Shyamnagar Upazila of Satkhira District. It was revealed that the abundance of fishes, fuel woods, honey, golpata (Nypa fruticans), and shrimp postlarvae (PL) witnessed considerable reduction. The resource users have adapted themselves by changing their occupation, becoming jobless and depending on the other family members. PL collection, honey collection, shrimp culture, and wood collection were found professional adapting strategies to adopt cyclone, flood, salinity intrusion, river erosion and drought. Several recommendations are elicited, the implementation of which is important to ensure livelihood sustainability of the mangrove communities.

Bread is a food that is commonly recognized as a very convenient type of food, but it is also easily prone to microbial attack. As a result of bread spoilage, a significant economic loss occurs to both consumers and producers. For years, the bakery industry has sought to identify treatments that make bread safe and with an extended shelf-life to address this economic and safety concern, including replacing harmful chemical preservatives. New frontiers, on the other hand, have recently been explored. Alternative methods of bread preservation, such as microbial fermentation, utilization of plant and animal derivatives, nanofibers, and other innovative technologies, have yielded promising results. This review summarizes numerous research findings regarding the bio-preservation of bread and suggests potential applications of these techniques. Among these techniques, microbial fermentation using lactic acid bacteria strains and yeast has drawn significant interest nowadays because of their outstanding antifungal activity and shelf-life extending capacity. For example, bread slices with Lactobacillus plantarum LB1 and Lactobacillus rossiae LB5 inhibited fungal development for up to 21 days with the lowest contamination score. Moreover, various essential oils and plant extracts, such as lemongrass oil and garlic extracts, demonstrated promising results in reducing fungal growth on bread and other bakery products. In addition, different emerging bio-preservation strategies such as the utilization of whey, nanofibers, active packaging, and modified atmospheric packaging have gained considerable interest in recent days.