Health behavior, perceptions, practices, and decision making: sub-national and socio-demographic differentials in...

The study examines health behavior, perceptions, practices, and decision making using data from the 1995 Health and Demographic Survey conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. Knowledge about causes of diarrhea and food contamination were higher than knowledge about causes of nightblindness and worm infestation but this knowledge is inadequate. The household's economic condition and the respondent's education were found to be positively associated with disease knowledge and food contamination; the same is also true for health behavior and practices. Sub-national variation in disease knowledge and food contamination exists but did not correspond always with the health behavior and practices. Decisions regarding treatment of disease were made by the husband and wife together in two-thirds of the cases, however, it was not uniform across socio-demographic and sub-national categories.