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Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10361/7312

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Role of credit in food security and dietary diversity in Bangladesh
(© 2017 Elsevier B.V., 3/1/2017) Bidisha, Sayema Haque; Khan, Akib; Imran, Khalid; Khondker, Bazlul Haque; Suhrawardy, Gazi Mohammad
This work attempts to disentangle the relationship between credit, food security, and dietary diversity in the context of Bangladesh through descriptive and econometric analyses of the Household Income and Expenditure Survey of 2010 as well as a supplementary primary survey of 1200 households. To adequately address potential selection bias, we apply a variant of propensity score matching as well as an instrumental variable technique based on the distance from the nearest financial institution to account for endogeneity in our estimates. Our analysis reveals that access to credit tends to improve food security and allows households to achieve greater dietary diversity. In particular, food security is proxied by calorie consumption, and households with credit access tend to have greater calorie consumption per capita. Dietary diversity is measured through a number of dietary diversity scores, such as the food consumption score and the household dietary diversity score, and households with access to credit score higher than those without according to such measures. The results have been found to be robust following correction for endogeneity issues, and the paper therefore provides empirical evidence in favor of policies supporting accessible credit for poor households in Bangladesh.
Assessing the spatial accessibility of microfinance in northern Bangladesh: a GIS analysis
(© 2015 Blackwell Publishing Inc., 2015) Khan, Akib; Rabbani, Atonu; BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health
This paper attempts to understand and operationalize the notion of spatial accessibility (SA) in the context of microfinance. Using geographic information system (GIS) data from northern Bangladesh, we have generated a kernel-smoothed map and found remarkable spatial variation in access to microcredit. Results suggest that areas isolated from physical infrastructure, administrative establishments, and prone to ecological shocks, exhibit lower degree of SA. Moreover, using an instrumental variable framework, we found that SA has a significant positive impact on household's decision to borrow and on the number of loans: one standard deviation higher SA is associated with a rise in participation probability and average number of microloans by, at least, 3.5 percentage points and 16 percent, respectively.
The influence of travel time on emergency obstetric care seeking behavior in the urban poor of Bangladesh: a GIS study
(© 2016 BioMed Central Ltd., 2016) Panciera, Rocco; Khan, Akib; Jafar Raza Rizvi, Syed; Ahmed, Shakil; Ahmed, Tanvir; Islam, Rubana; M. Adams, Alayne; BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health
Background: Availability of Emergency Obstetric Care (EmOC) is crucial to avert maternal death due to life-threatening complications potentially arising during delivery. Research on the determinants of utilization of EmOC has neglected urban settings, where traffic congestion can pose a significant barrier to the access of EmOC facilities, particularly for the urban poor due to costly and limited transportation options. This study investigates the impact of travel time to EmOC facilities on the utilization of facility-based delivery services among mothers living in urban poor settlements in Sylhet, Bangladesh. Methods: A cross-sectional EmOC health-seeking behavior survey from 39 poor urban clusters was geo-spatially linked to a comprehensive geo-referenced dataset of EmOC facility locations. Geo-spatial techniques and logistic regression were then applied to quantify the impact of travel time on place of delivery (EmOC facility or home), while controlling for confounding socio-cultural and economic factors. Results: Increasing travel time to the nearest EmOC facility is found to act as a strong deterrent to seeking care for the urban poor in Sylhet. Logistic regression results indicate that a 5-min increase in travel time to the nearest EmOC facility is associated with a 30 % decrease (0.655 odds ratio, 95 % CI: 0.529-0.811) in the likelihood of delivery at an EmOC facility rather than at home. Moreover, the impact of travel time varies substantially between public, NGO and private facilities. A 5-min increase in travel time from a private EmOC facility is associated with a 32.9 % decrease in the likelihood of delivering at a private facility, while for public and Non-Government Organizations (NGO) EmOC facilities, the impact is lower (28.2 and 28.6 % decrease respectively). Other strong determinants of delivery at an EmOC facility are the use of antenatal care and mother's formal education, while Muslim mothers are found to be more likely to deliver at home. Conclusions: Geospatial evidence points to the need to strengthen referral and emergency transport systems in order to reduce urban travel time, and establish or relocate EmOC facilities closer to where the poor reside. However, female education and antenatal care coverage remain the most important determinants of facility delivery.

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