Sharifa Begum

Pulling rickshaws in the city of Dhaka: a way out of poverty?

This paper is based on a study drawing on information from current and former rickshaw pullers in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Most of these rickshaw pullers are very poor, and have little education and few skills. Rickshaw pulling provides them with relatively easy access to the urban labour market, and an escape from extreme rural poverty. But the initial trend of modest upward mobility from rickshaw pulling is not sustained in the long run. For the sample in this study, almost all economic and social indicators - including income poverty - deteriorated with the length of involvement in rickshaw pulling. The unsustainability of the livelihood is related to the extreme physical demands of the activity, which are unrealistic in the context of poverty and malnutrition, and which result in high vulnerability to health shocks. The paper concludes that rickshaw pulling provides no permanent route to escaping poverty.

Unsustainable Livelihoods, Health Shocks and Urban Chronic Poverty: Rickshaw Pullers as a Case Study

Five ideas constitute the central message of this study. First, urban rickshaw pullers come from a very poor economic background consistent with the characteristics of chronic poverty. Second, rickshaw pulling provides a route of modest upward mobility for those among the rural chronically poor who come to the city for work. Third, the rickshaw pullers are susceptible to systematic health risks. Deteriorating health combined with health shocks can impose a significant burden on the urban poor, dragging down the pace of upward mobility during their lifetime. Fourth, the activity of rickshaw pulling represents an unsustainable livelihood, as the initial welfare gain tapers off with length of involvement in the sector. As longitudinal data is lacking, this story has emerged through an inductive comparison of younger, recent joiners and long duration, older rickshaw pullers, as well as current and former pullers. Fifth, intergenerational mobility of rickshaw puller households is constrained by very limited schooling and the poor range of occupational choices for children. Public policy has an important role to play in mitigating health shocks, as well as supporting targeted education for the urban poor in the informal sector, for sustainable urban poverty reduction.

Gender Differences in Disability-Free Life Expectancy at Old Ages in Bangladesh

Objective: We examined gender differences in the prevalence of disability and Disability-free Life Expectancy (DFLE) for Bangladeshi older adults. Method: We used data representing 4,189 elderly subjects aged 60 years and over from a nationally representative survey (Bangladesh’s Household Income and Expenditure Survey-2010). The Sullivan method was used to compute DFLE. Results: Eyesight disability is prevalent among 28.94 and 36.47 men and women, respectively, and is the most prevalent type of disability in Bangladesh. Women have each disability and at least one disability in significantly higher percentages than men. At all ages, and in both numbers and proportion, women have longer life expectancy but shorter DFLE than men. Discussion: Attention should be given to the elderly, with special care devoted to elderly women. The findings of the current study have important implications for risk of disability and the need for, and use of, long-term care services.

Inequality in Disability in Bangladesh

Objective To investigate inequality in disability in Bangladesh. Methods The study used both household level and individual level data from a large nationally representative data set, Bangladesh’s Household Income and Expenditure Survey - 2010. Principal component analysis was used to construct a wealth index based on household assets from household level data. Then, using data from 49,809 individuals aged 5 years and over, chi-square tests and logistic regression were performed to test the association between wealth level and disability. Findings Women and older people are significantly more likely to report having disabilities than men and younger people. For middle and rich families, respectively, there is a 14 percent lower likelihood of reporting disabilities than for poor families. Changes in the probability of having disabilities are linear with increasing wealth. In addition, the study identifies some significant factors affecting disability, namely, age, sex, education, marital status, and place of residence including divisional differences. Conclusion In Bangladesh, worse health among the poor argues for policies prioritizing this group while at the same time giving special attention to women and the elderly.

Methodology for Identifying the Poorest at Local Level

This article argues that the extreme poor warrant specific analytical and policy focus. It attempts to identify the extreme poor in rural Bangladesh by devising sensitive targeting indicators that are effective in minimising leakage to the non-poor while ensuring broad coverage of the target group. A number of indicators are examined, resulting in the conclusion that since no single indicator contains sufficient information, it is better to combine those which are most effective. Regional targeting and household-based indicators are also recommended for the design of extreme-poor oriented programmes. However, if the process of administering is left to the bureaucratic discretion of programme managers, it is unlikely that better identification will have an effect on the extreme poor. This risk can be minimised through consultation with communities and NGOs, and facilitated by effective local government. Information exchange with like-minded programmes can also contribute to the development of more socially equitable and inclusive pro-poor policies.

Urban-rural differences in disability-free life expectancy in Bangladesh using the 2010 HIES data

Background Research on health expectancy has been carried out in Bangladesh but none of it has examined the differences in Disability-Free Life Expectancy (DFLE) between urban and rural setting in context of rapid urbanization of Bangladesh in past decades. Objectives The present study aims to estimate DFLE for people of all ages living in urban and rural areas in Bangladesh, and to examine the differences in DFLE between these two areas. Methods Data from the Sample Vital Registration System 2010 and the Bangladesh Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2010 were used in this study. The Sullivan method was applied to estimate DFLE in Bangladesh. Results Higher rates of mortality and disability were observed in rural areas compared to urban areas with few exceptions. Statistically significant differences in DFLE were revealed from birth to age 15 years for both sexes between urban and rural areas. Urban males had a longer life expectancy (LE), longer DFLE and shorter LE with disability both in number and proportion when compared to rural males. Rural females at age 20+ years had a longer LE than urban females but urban females had a longer DFLE and a shorter LE with disability in both number and proportion at all ages than did rural females. Conclusion This study demonstrates that there were clear inequalities in LE, DFLE and LE with disability between rural and urban areas of Bangladesh along with age-specific differences as well. These findings may serve as useful and benchmark for intervention and policy implications for reducing the gap in health outcomes.