Student
Dissertation 3rd Batch 
Effect of Health Forum and Skill Training on Appropriate Cooking Practices (ACP) & food Habits among Ultra Poor Households in Selected Areas of Rural Rangpur
Lubna Yasmin
Abstract
According to the census survey 2004, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics 40.9% people of Bangladesh live under poverty line and among them 15-20% are ultra poor as identified by BRAC, those who have less than 10 decimal land and no active male in the household (BRAC Annual Report, 2006,). The ultra poor people do not get sufficient food throughout the year including sufficient protein diet from animal source. Although they take rice, vegetables and leafy vegetables in their daily meal, due to lack of knowledge on nutrition and cooking practice they are incapable of retaining nutrition from plant source on the minimal food they take. Thus they suffer from double nutrient loss. This has the propensity to push them toward malnutrition and various types of diseases that originate from lack of proper amount of protein, vitamins and minerals.
BRAC, a renowned international NGO in Bangladesh, started working on the ultra poor people to improve their live and economic condition through several programs. One such program is the Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty reduction- targeting the Ultra poor’ Programme (CFPR-TUP). This program of BRAC has three segments and this research worked on the Specially Targeted Ultra Poor (STUP) programme. This STUP program integrates all the programs that BRAC runs to reduce the poverty. I have taken into consideration two such programs. The first one is Health Forum, that provides different information regarding health, disease and health practices, and the second one is Skilled Training Program that provides various sorts of income generating vocational trainings to the people. The information perceived from these trainings improves their knowledge and helps them to change their behavior.
