Nasif Ahsan - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Nasif Ahsan

BMC public health, Jun 5, 2024

Background Out-of-pocket (OOP) payment is one of many countries' main financing options for healt... more Background Out-of-pocket (OOP) payment is one of many countries' main financing options for health care. High OOP payments push them into financial catastrophe and the resultant impoverishment. The infrastructure, society, culture, economic condition, political structure, and every element of the physical and social environment influence the intensity of financial catastrophes in health expenditure. Hence, the incidence of Catastrophic Health Expenditure (CHE) must be studied more intensively, specifically from regional aspects. This systematic review aims to make a socio-ecological synthesis of the predictors of CHE. Method We retrieved data from Scopus and Web of Science. This review followed PRISMA guidelines. The interest outcomes of the included literature were the incidence and the determinants of CHE. This review analyzed the predictors in light of the socio-ecological model. Results Out of 1436 screened documents, fifty-one met the inclusion criteria. The selected studies were quantitative. The studies analyzed the socioeconomic determinants from the demand side, primarily focused on general health care, while few were disease-specific and focused on utilized care. The included studies analyzed the interpersonal, relational, and institutional predictors more intensively. In contrast, the community and policy-level predictors are scarce. Moreover, neither of the studies analyzed the supply-side predictors. Each CHE incidence has different reasons and different outcomes. We must go with those case-specific studies. Without the supply-side response, it is difficult to find any effective solution to combat CHE. Conclusion Financial protection against CHE is one of the targets of sustainable development goal 3 and a tool to achieve universal health coverage. Each country has to formulate its policy and enact laws that consider its requirements to preserve health rights. That is why the community and policy-level predictors must be studied more intensively. Proper screening of the cause of CHE, especially from the perspective of the health care provider's perspective is required to identify the individual, organizational, community, and policy-level barriers in healthcare delivery.

International journal of disaster risk reduction, Oct 1, 2020

Media plays an important role during hazard emergency communication. Community radio, as a part o... more Media plays an important role during hazard emergency communication. Community radio, as a part of media, has emerged as a management tool for influencing at-risk people's preparedness for natural disasters. In Bangladesh, the concept of community radio is relatively new in terms of combating cyclone risk in coastal areas, and so far, no study applying mixed-method on role of radio in disaster preparedness has been performed. This study presents an empirical analysis of the role of community radio in disaster preparedness for people at risk in cyclone-prone south and southwestern coastal Bangladesh, where we use economic loss as a proxy of disaster preparedness. Using a multi-stage sampling, 430 households were selected for a questionnaire survey. For the quantitative approach, Ordinary Least Square (OLS) and Binary Logistic regression models were used, along with other parametric and non-parametric tools. For qualitative approach, FGD findings and individual statements were used. The main results of this study suggest that listening to hazard-related programs on both state-operated and community radio has played a significant role in cyclone-related disaster preparedness in terms of minimizing cyclone-induced economic loss. Nevertheless, the distinct feature of broadcasting early warnings in local dialects on a local basis has increased the comprehensibility, information clarity, and reliability of the warning messages delivered by community radio, and this has helped at-risk people to make proper preparations for cyclone risks. Furthermore, this radio appears to help the people at risk to enhance their knowledge and awareness on hazard preparedness, which has made them more experienced to lessen disaster loss over last decade. These issues together appear to have helped community radio listeners to incur a significantly lower degree of economic loss than that of non-listeners (z ¼ 3:11; p < 0:003), implying better disaster preparedness by the listeners.

Ecological Indicators, Dec 1, 2018

Cyclones (i.e. typhoons, hurricanes) are known for their destructive power and negative effects o... more Cyclones (i.e. typhoons, hurricanes) are known for their destructive power and negative effects on livelihoods. Potential benefits are often ignored, when some people depend on cyclone impacts. Currently few publications on potential benefits exist, and most concern a single country or cyclone. This study documents an overview of the existing global knowledge on cyclone benefits and presents a regional focus on Bangladesh, the Philippines, and Japan. The results expand available options for ecosystem based adaptation schemes by highlighting how benefits can be valued as ecosystem services. Responses from experts in SouthEast Asia suggest that although cyclones are commonly understood to result in detrimental effects; various cases proved to have practical benefits. Example benefits include an increase in soil organic matter content, eliminating the need for fertilizers; collecting increased wind power through wind farms; and selling collected debris as a form of additional income. The results further show which ecosystem service valuation approaches can be applied to the identified benefits of cyclones, and which type of services and valuation approaches require further attention. While cyclone impacts cannot be precisely anticipated, knowledge of their benefits and corresponding valuation approaches form an important basis to offset their devastation.

Journal of disaster research, Aug 1, 2016

Disaster risk reduction, 2017

The short- and long-term impacts from natural hazards, which are thought to be the consequences o... more The short- and long-term impacts from natural hazards, which are thought to be the consequences of climate change, interrupt the functions of the social-ecological system of the Sundarbans Mangrove Forest (SMF) in Bangladesh, which in turn affect the livelihood of people at risk. In the absence of sustainable livelihood options, over time these people have become more dependent on the resources of the Sundarbans. This study investigates how their livelihood strategies affect the dependency pattern on the common resources of this mangrove forest during economic depressions that resulted from disasters caused by extreme climatic events. The focus of this investigation is on a sub-district known as Koyra, located in southwestern coastal Bangladesh, which has the longest border with the Sundarbans. Relevant parameters such as climatic trends and extreme events, financial-physical-structural damage patterns, socioeconomic peculiarities, changes in consumption expenditure, asset portfolio, and occupation patterns are considered. Data are collected from 420 households through face-to-face questionnaires and seven focus group discussions (FGDs). The empirical results suggest that the higher intensity and frequency of natural hazards have led to substantially higher damages of asset and capital goods. Over the last two decades, around 8 % of the sampled households have become landless; more than 25 % have switched from crops to other nonagricultural occupations; and more than 26 % have started depending on forest resources for their consumption smoothing. In addition, each household has incurred annual disaster damages of on average US$ 177. Combined with the absence of well-defined property rights, the people at risk have become more dependent on resources from the SMF for their livelihoods as well as consumption smoothing, which eventually is likely to jeopardize the stock of renewable resources of this forest. We recommend redefining property rights to ensure a win-win platform for all the stakeholders.

China Agricultural Economic Review, Jul 3, 2020

Purpose-Recent studies suggest extensive use of environmental resources in agrofarming degrades e... more Purpose-Recent studies suggest extensive use of environmental resources in agrofarming degrades ecosystem significantly. In this backdrop, this study aims at assessing ecoefficiency of paddy farming. Because ecoefficiency links up between economic performances and environmental resources supporting the provision of goods and services for the society, this study further investigates the effectiveness of attending Farmers' Field School (FFS), an agroenvironmental program, in conserving environmental resources through improving farm-level ecoefficiency. Design/methodology/approach-In a dataset of 200 randomly selected paddy farmers from three districts of the southwestern Bangladesh, data envelopment analysis (DEA) is applied to compute both radial and pressure-specific (nutrient balance, energy balance, irrigation and pesticide lethal risk) ecoefficiency scores. Furthermore, propensity score matching (PSM) technique is applied to examine the impact of FFS program on farm-level ecoefficiency. Findings-The DEA results suggest that paddy farmers are highly eco-inefficient. The computed radial ecoefficiency score is 0.40 implying farmers could reduce around 60% of environmental pressure equiproportionally even by maintaining the same level of value addition. In addition, the PSM results suggest farmers' participation in FFS program led to around 22.5% higher radial ecoefficiency and 7-25% higher environmental pressure-specific eco-efficiencies. Furthermore, simulation exercises reveal that FFS participation in interaction with farm size would lead to around 32-40% reduction of all environmental pressures. Practical implications-Promoting FFS programs among paddy farmers could be an effective policy option to improve eco-efficiency through environment-friendly farming paradigm. Originality/value-This study is probably the maiden effort that has examined the impact of attending the FFS program on ecoefficiency improvement in Bangladesh. This study contributes to both the concern literature by adding useful information and the policymakers by providing new insights about the reduction of environmental resource usage with maintaining the same value addition from agrofarming.

Progress in disaster science, Dec 1, 2020

Rapid global changes (population growth, urbanization and frequent extreme weather conditions) ha... more Rapid global changes (population growth, urbanization and frequent extreme weather conditions) have cumulatively affected local water bodies and resulted in unfavorable hydrological, ecological, and environmental changes in the major river systems. Particularly, communities in isolated riverine islands are heavily affected due to their poor adaptive capacities, which is well documented in the contemporary literature. The focal point for the vulnerability of these people lies in the water resources (drinking water availability, agricultural water quality, saltwater intrusion, flooding etc.) and the future interaction between human and water systems. This paper advocates the importance of sociohydrological research in the context of enhancing social adaptive capacity as well as for developing a resilient water environment in three very large riverine islands in Asia: Fraserganj (India), Dakshin Bedkashi (Bangladesh) (both from the Ganges-Brahaputra-Meghna Delta) and Con Dao Island (Mekong River, Vietnam). It also explores how the nexus of human-water relations could be applied to improve adaptive measures to manage local water needs while mitigating undesirable changes to the hydrological cycle. Socio-hydrological models as an integrated tool can be used to quantify the feedbacks between water resources and society at multiple scales, with the aim of expediting stakeholder participation for sustainable water resource management. The proposed idea in this study will be helpful to sketch projections of alternatives that explicitly account for plausible and co-evolving trajectories of the sociohydrological system, which will yield both insights into cause-effect relationships and help stakeholders to identify safe functioning space.

Global Environmental Change

Journal of International Migration and Integration

This study investigates the residential satisfaction and future relocation intention of the host ... more This study investigates the residential satisfaction and future relocation intention of the host communities neighbouring Rohingya migrants in Bangladesh. An empirical study of 151 households was conducted in Ukhiya and Ramu Upazila of Cox’s Bazar district in late 2019. The residential satisfaction component includes the social environment (SE), neighbourhood environment (NE), and public services and facilities (PS&F). It shows that, due to the Rohingya influx, the residential satisfaction level of the Ukhiya host communities declined by 30.17%. Besides, to determine factors that impact on the intention to migrate, the ordinal logistic regression model has been run. A larger distance between the household and the Rohingya camps, longer duration of residence in the community, and a higher number of children in the family negatively influence the mobility intention of the host communities. Furthermore, the Hindu residents in the host communities have higher propensity to relocate. The...

Water Policy

Despite the growing emphasis and global initiatives to ensure safe drinking water and sanitation ... more Despite the growing emphasis and global initiatives to ensure safe drinking water and sanitation for all (Sustainable Development Goal 6), households in coastal areas are at risk of growing water stress across the globe. However, little is known about households' adaptation strategies to water stress in coastal areas. This study explores the determinants and impacts of adaptation strategies to household-level water stress (both drinking and non-drinking), considering the behaviors of adopters and non-adopters in the southwestern coastal area of Bangladesh. We applied an endogenous switching regression model by analyzing questionnaire survey datasets (n=502) to estimate the effect of adopting adaptation strategies on household-level water stress in four saline-prone coastal sub-districts of Bangladesh. Results reveal six commonly-practiced adaptation strategies: reducing vegetable production, reducing livestock production, paying more to access water, increasing time for water co...

Water Policy

Discontentment with a piped supply system of drinking water has become a significant concern in B... more Discontentment with a piped supply system of drinking water has become a significant concern in Bangladesh's urban areas in recent years, necessitating the improvement of different aspects of the system in question. Therefore, by conducting a discrete choice experiment on 115 households out of a systematically selected 161 households, this study aims to estimate the willingness to pay (WTP) for an improved safe drinking water supply by considering the trade-offs made by urban dwellers for the proposed improvements to an existing water supply system in the Khulna City Corporation (KCC) area of Bangladesh. The primary results show that the total WTP of households is estimated at BDT 243.6 (≈US$ 2.87) per month, implying that respondents are ready to pay for improvements to the water supply attributes of water quality, regularity of supply, water pressure in taps, and filtering. A revenue stream for an improved water supply system is also being developed, suggesting that investment...

Regional Environmental Change, 2021

Despite confronting severe climatic risks, many people prefer to remain in climate hazard-prone a... more Despite confronting severe climatic risks, many people prefer to remain in climate hazard-prone areas rather than migrate. Environmental non-migration behavior, however, has gained relatively little research attention in the field of migration processes. This study aims to unveil the determinants motivating voluntary environmental non-migration decisions in coastal Bangladesh, an area highly exposed to flooding and other climate-related hazards (e.g., soil salinization). Applying a systematic random sampling, we selected 556 household respondents for a questionnaire survey from 14 villages of two coastal districts: Khulna and Satkhira. Applying a mixed method (i.e., both quantitative and qualitative) approach, major empirical results of this study suggest that even though all respondents lived in a similar situation in terms of climatic hazard and exposure, 88% of the respondents reported themselves as voluntary non-migrants. Furthermore, these non-migrants enjoyed higher socioecono...

In contemporary natural hazard-led disaster risk management literature, there is an increasing us... more In contemporary natural hazard-led disaster risk management literature, there is an increasing usage of the concept of social capital, livelihood, response and recovery. However, only limited empirical studies considered people at risk’s perception on the nexus between social capital and livelihood recovery in the post hazard circumstances. This study presents results from an empirical investigation on the nexus between social capital and livelihood-recovery of the households at risk who were the victims of tropical cyclone Aila. This study used primary data collected through face to face interview from 160 households from four villages of Koyra Union of Khulna district. Empirical results obtained from factor analysis and regression models reveal several aspects of social capital community participation, perceived neighboring and community trust, and social cohesion and inclusion have statistically significant influence on livelihood-recovery of the hazard affected households. We al...

Environmental Resilience and Transformation in Times of COVID-19, 2021

At present the world is facing a boisterous challenge put by COVID-19 due to which countries are ... more At present the world is facing a boisterous challenge put by COVID-19 due to which countries are passing very difficult times. COVID-19 has now put both physical and mental impacts. However, how socioenvironmental factors affect mental health (stress and anxiety) during COVID-19 in developing countries is poorly understood, and so far, too few scholarly works have been accomplished focusing these countries. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the role of socioenvironmental factors on mental health of people during COVID-19 in the costal urban areas of Bangladesh, where we contemplate Composite COVID Stress Index (CCSI) and COVID Anxiety Scale (CAS) for analyzing mental health. Applying a cross-sectional web-based survey, 115 respondents were considered for this study. As analytical tools- Explanatory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Weighted Least Square (WLS) were applied, along with descriptive statistics. The results advocate that agitation, scarcity, trauma, and infodemic altogether affect the degree of stress during COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, a number of socioenvironmental factors namely agitation, scarcity, infodemic, age, literacy level, living condition (in terms of settlement type), source of drinking water, security status (in terms of criminal activity), and number of ailments significantly affect the degree of coronavirus triggered anxiety during the pandemic for the respondents. Thus, findings propose the need of both physical and psychological healthcare services, online-based healthcare programs and spread of authentic COVID-19 information and basic amenities sufficiency.

Sustainable Water Resources Management, 2021

This paper examines the level of optimal irrigation and the determinants of over-irrigation in pa... more This paper examines the level of optimal irrigation and the determinants of over-irrigation in paddy production since about three-fourth of freshwater withdrawal is used to irrigate paddy plants in Bangladesh. Cobb–Douglas production function reveals that optimal irrigation is 75 × 102 m3 per acre per season. Results show nearly, 39% of water is over-irrigated. It escalates farmer’s irrigation cost by USD 56 per acre and induces additional depletion 60 × 102 million m3 freshwater with substantial welfare loss USD 70–73 million in south-western Bangladesh. Further analyses reveal that farm characteristics, salinity, and irrigational modes determine over-irrigation in the study area. This study suggests that the alternate wetting and drying (AWD) technique helps farmers to reduce irrigation substantially and to reach the optimal level. Welfare effects of the AWD technique are 89–93% reduction in over-irrigation 68–71% reduction in ancillary cost.

Progress in Disaster Science, 2020

Environmental Resilience and Transformation in Times of COVID-19, 2021

Abstract The outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has affected and virtually changed th... more Abstract The outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has affected and virtually changed the life and livelihoods of people across the world, and the forest resource-dependent communities (FRDCs) in the Sundarbans of Bangladesh are no exception. Aiming at identifying the changes in the livelihood and healthcare-seeking behavior of FRDCs during COVID-19, an in-depth interview approach was adopted. The FRDCs, including fishermen, crabbers, honey hunters, and nipa leaf (i.e., Golpata) collectors, have been experiencing an unprecedented event as the government-imposed sanctions on entering the Sundarbans - the only source of income in many cases. Left without any other source of income, some of them were engaged in illegal resource extraction, while most of the people of FRDCs have either remained unemployed or borrowed money at high interest to maintain the family. The financially marginalized FRDCs, thus, have no alternative but to seek medical assistance from the quacks or pharmacies. Without the collaborative interventions of the government and its development partners, the FRDCs are not going to change their fate from the ‘extremely poor.’

PLOS ONE, 2021

This study aims to understand the level of residential satisfaction of the host communities’ afte... more This study aims to understand the level of residential satisfaction of the host communities’ aftermath of the influx of Rohingya in Bangladesh. A total of 151 household heads were randomly interviewed from Ukhiya and Ramu Upazila of Cox’s Bazar district, Bangladesh. A residential satisfaction index is developed with a total of twenty-two variables comprised of four components- social environment (SE), neighbourhood environment (NE), public services and facilities (PS&F), and dwelling units (DU). The coefficients of the components indicate that the PS&F, SE, and NE impact much on the overall residential satisfaction compare to the DU. The analysis demonstrates that the people who have tertiary level education, who is Muslim and whose work opportunities remain the same as before, are more satisfied, but older people are less satisfied than younger. Besides, the degradation of social harmony, livestock and agricultural land losses, and decreased wages were the significant causes of dis...

Habitat International, 2021

Abstract This research aims to review the total collection of literature on the ‘residential sati... more Abstract This research aims to review the total collection of literature on the ‘residential satisfaction’ concept used in social research from 1961 to 2020, and provides a complete overview on how social research concerning ‘residential satisfaction’ has emerged and developed in the last 60 years. We follow the theoretical framework of bibliometric analysis and use the bibliometric datasets retrieved from Web of Science and Scopus's online resources. After compiling and processing the datasets, we used a final dataset containing 877 documents on residential satisfaction. The open-source statistical and visualisation software packages R and VOSviewer were used mainly for processing and analysing datasets. The results visualise information on the top authors, the most influential documents by citation, the most productive countries, and other criteria. The lexical network analysis shows that residential satisfaction has a strong co-occurrence association with the two frequently occurring terms ‘neighbourhood’ and ‘satisfaction’. The majority of research on residential satisfaction has been conducted in the United States, China, and the United Kingdom. The top three most influential journals for residential satisfaction research are ‘Social Indicators Research’, ‘Environment and Development’, and ‘Habitat International’. This bibliometric analysis frames the future research demand for residential satisfaction in social research.

China Agricultural Economic Review, 2020

PurposeRecent studies suggest extensive use of environmental resources in agrofarming degrades ec... more PurposeRecent studies suggest extensive use of environmental resources in agrofarming degrades ecosystem significantly. In this backdrop, this study aims at assessing ecoefficiency of paddy farming. Because ecoefficiency links up between economic performances and environmental resources supporting the provision of goods and services for the society, this study further investigates the effectiveness of attending Farmers' Field School (FFS), an agroenvironmental program, in conserving environmental resources through improving farm-level ecoefficiency.Design/methodology/approachIn a dataset of 200 randomly selected paddy farmers from three districts of the southwestern Bangladesh, data envelopment analysis (DEA) is applied to compute both radial and pressure-specific (nutrient balance, energy balance, irrigation and pesticide lethal risk) ecoefficiency scores. Furthermore, propensity score matching (PSM) technique is applied to examine the impact of FFS program on farm-level ecoeff...

BMC public health, Jun 5, 2024

International journal of disaster risk reduction, Oct 1, 2020

Ecological Indicators, Dec 1, 2018

Journal of disaster research, Aug 1, 2016

Disaster risk reduction, 2017

China Agricultural Economic Review, Jul 3, 2020

Progress in disaster science, Dec 1, 2020

Global Environmental Change

Journal of International Migration and Integration

Water Policy

Regional Environmental Change, 2021

Environmental Resilience and Transformation in Times of COVID-19, 2021

Sustainable Water Resources Management, 2021

Progress in Disaster Science, 2020

Environmental Resilience and Transformation in Times of COVID-19, 2021

PLOS ONE, 2021

Habitat International, 2021

China Agricultural Economic Review, 2020