Bangladesh’s Adolescent Landscape: Unveiling Insights from the Bangladesh Adolescent Health and Wellbeing Survey 2019-20 Watch Now Data for Impact (D4I) hosted the fifth and final webinar in a series focusing on health equity in global health monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) on October 30, 2023. The 75-minute webinar addressed adolescent health issues based on findings from the Bangladesh Adolescent Health and Wellbeing Survey (BAHWS) 2019-20, led by the National Institute for Population Research and Training (NIPORT). This webinar shared recommendations aimed at ensuring that all adolescents, regardless of their background, have the same opportunities to achieve optimal health and development outcomes. Health equity is achieved when everyone has a fair opportunity to live the healthiest life possible. MEL plays a critical role in fostering equitable global health programs and policies. High-quality data can help stakeholders better understand current health inequities, promote equity-sensitive program approaches, measure progress toward equity, support accountability for equity, and raise awareness about actions that affect health equity. USAID’s Inclusive Development approach champions health equity with the idea that every individual and community, of all diverse identities and experiences, plays a pivotal role in the transformation of their own societies. USAID works to integrate inclusive development in the areas of disability rights, inclusion and equity, mental health, and youth, among others. This webinar delved into crucial topics affecting Bangladeshi adolescents age 15-19 years, including preferred age of marriage, experience with intimate partner physical violence, postpartum depression, and attitudes towards gender norms. Presenters shared evidence from four recent papers on these topics and illustrated how these subjects intersect with USAID’s Inclusive Development approach. Watch the webinar recording and download the presentation slides. Speakers Nahid Kamal, PhD, is an independent consultant with over 20 years of research and evaluation experience in population, health, nutrition, and WASH. Her past professional affiliations were with the Population Council, Global Fund (GFATM), Marie Stopes International, and the MEASURE Evaluation project. She was awarded her PhD in Demography from the London School of Economics in 2008. Kanta Jamil, PhD, is a demographer by training, currently working as an independent consultant with over 35 years of research and evaluation experience in population, health, and nutrition. Her past professional affiliations were with the IAP Worldwide Services, USAID/ Bangladesh, and the Johns Hopkins University. She was awarded her PhD in Demography from the Johns Hopkins University in 1991. Shusmita Khan, MSc, is a trained nutritionist who has worked in public health for the last 20 years focusing on MEL aspects of health, population, and nutrition. She has experience in monitoring, evaluation, as well as gender integration in MEL activities. Currently, she works as the Knowledge Management and Communications Specialist for D4I and is based in Dhaka. M. Moinuddin Haider, MSc, MPH, is an Associate Scientist in the Health Systems and Population Studies Division at icddr,b, Bangladesh. He received an MSc in Applied Statistics from the University of Dhaka and a Master of Public Health from the Independent University, Bangladesh. He has over 13 years of experience in monitoring and evaluation of population, health and nutrition programs, and survey and demographic surveillance research. His other expertise includes health and demographic measurement improvement in population-based surveys. Additional Resources: Bangladesh Adolescent Health and Wellbeing Survey 2019-20: Final Report Bangladesh Adolescent Health and Wellbeing Survey 2019-2020 (Dataset)
