Submission ID 118581
| Issue/Objective | In rural Bangladesh, backyard poultry-raising is a livelihood strategy practiced by most households. However, the common practice of keeping poultry inside the household at night increases risk of exposure to enteric pathogens, which can cause poor health outcomes in young children. This study evaluates a pilot intervention implemented in 2020-21 with the aim of encouraging backyard poultry-raising households to build an improved poultry shed, separate from their household dwellings. This analysis explored intervention-related factors, as reported by women and men in participating households, and implications of findings for intervention scalability. |
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| Methodology/Approach | The follow-up study was conducted in Mymensingh, Bangladesh, beginning in August 2024. Households that participated in the pilot study were recruited (n=75; 94%). Data collection included surveys with poultry-raisers (all female) and male household members and in-depth interviews (ongoing) with the same population to explore experiences and perceptions related to shed construction, use, and maintenance, and other household characteristics, including decision-making. Analysis included comparison of economic, cognitive, and normative factors across female and male participants. |
| Results | The mean cost of a poultry shed was 4013 BDT [0, 8000] (45.84 CAD [0, 91.39]). 52% of female and 62% of male respondents found the sheds expensive. However, most participants still recommended a poultry shed to others, during in-depth interviews. Most poultry-raisers reported rare or occasional (57%) involvement of family members in poultry-raising; male respondents also self-reported rare or occasional (80%) involvement. 41% of men and 47% of women reported that shed-related decisions were made jointly with their spouse. Level of perceived autonomy was also explored among women: 39% stated decisions were made as a group, 28% could decide themselves but required permission to act, and 27% had full decision-making freedom. |
| Discussion/Conclusion | For successful intervention scale-up in resource-constrained settings, programs must address both technical (economic and cognitive) and normative (gendered decision-making) factors. Successful innovation will take these context-specific factors into consideration while recognizing the unmet needs of both men and women to sustain adoption of household-level, tech-based interventions. Engaging both male and female members of households in intervention planning and implementation will be essential to ensuring sustainability in similar settings due to household decision-making dynamics. |
| Presenters and affiliations | Manothri Mallikarachchi Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of International Health Elizabeth D. Thomas Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of International Health Peter J. Winch Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of International Health Abul Kamal icddr, b Ridwan Mostafa Shihab icddr, b Md. Mabubhur Rahman icddr, b Jesmin Sultana icddr, b |
