Inam Ullah Leghari’s research while affiliated with Quaid-i-Azam University and other places

Background: Malnutrition among expectant mothers in underdeveloped areas is abundant and a serious public health concern. This study examines how maternal empowerment affects nutritional outcomes among under-five children in developing Asian nations. Objective: With an emphasis on nutritional outcomes, including stunting, wasting, and underweight, the main objective of this study is to investigate the connection between mother empowerment and child malnutrition and explore how better child health in developing Asian nations can be achieved through empowering mothers. Methods: Using Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data of ten emerging Asian countries from three regions of Asia, this study evaluates maternal empowerment using the composite maternal empowerment index (CMEI) and examines how it relates to children's nutritional health. For the assessment of the significance of the association between maternal empowerment and child health outcomes, statistical analysis was conducted. Results: Our results indicated that maternal empowerment and child health have a statistically significant relationship, especially regarding a reduction in the prevalence of stunting, wasting, and underweight conditions in children. At the same time, maternal education showed a significant role in reducing malnutrition in children in all three regions of Asia. Conclusion: In conclusion, developing Asian nations require empowering women. Also, it is essential to initiate nutrition programs, extension education, and synergistic working models that are especially suited to rural women. By strengthening mothers' roles in promoting their children's health, these initiatives can help solve the widespread problem of child malnutrition.

In recent years, Hunza has seen a surge of suicide cases among youth. This paper attempts to decipher the multiple layers of meanings entailed in suicide cases. The dominant perception among the natives is the attribution of influence to supernatural beings. This paper attempts to provide insights into the supernatural cosmology and its relationship to youth suicide among the Burushaski speakers of Hunza. Using qualitative research methodology, this paper describes the local perception of supernatural beings, and their classifications as well as the role of local shamans, known in Burushaski as bitan. In this scenario, suicide is not seen as a self-destruction, but is rather a punishment by the supernatural beings owing to the violation of the sacred supernatural social order imposed by the spirits connected to the supernatural world. For the natives, both the terrestrial and supernatural spheres share common habitats and mountain ecology; however, the latter is perceived to have more powers than the former. Therefore, breach of this order is highly discouraged and bears dire consequences. What appears as mere supernatural and human conflict actually carries deeper references to social and ecological disruptions.

Building on ethnographic fieldwork and qualitative techniques, this paper attempts to explore the mechanisms through which refugee populations maintain distinct identities through marriages as a cultural process. An examination of the cultural factors determining marriage choices among Afghan refugees in Quetta reveals how the Afghan diaspora maintains social links between the host and the home country. The cultural practices specific to Afghan refugees describe how cultural forces negotiate the demands of assimilation from the host country while maintaining distinct identities as a diaspora. These practices are framed in the debate about the place of refugees in studies on transnationalism. It comments on how social and cultural factors are equally important in determining the behavior of and towards refugees, contrasting the economic and political focus of most work done on the subject. The current study of Afghan refugees' marriage preference highlights the dynamic nature of notions about migration, imagined Diasporas, and continued connection to homeland even after generations of exile in the host country which is Pakistan.

The research paper investigates the socio-cultural constraints faced by women entrepreneurs during startup and expansion of their entrepreneurial ventures in Ahmedpur East of District Bahawalpur through documenting their lived experiences. The research is primarily a multi-sited ethnography and utilizes qualitative research methods such as in-depth semi-structured interviews and focused group discussions on collecting primary data from a selective sample of 25 entrepreneurs ascertained through sampling technique. The study highlights gender-specific socio-cultural challenges such as social perceptions and biases, work-life balance, patronage of male family members, restricted mobility owing to Purdah and low recognition and payment of women's work etc. as prime reasons that hinder not only women participation as entrepreneurs but also inhibits their engagements and choices in entrepreneurship. Socio-cultural factors not only systematically impact women's social interactions and decision-making but transform into multiple other challenges that women fight and struggle with while making their space as entrepreneurs.

Nutrition status is an important indicator of child health. This study estimates the effect of socioeconomic determinants on children's nutritional status of under five years of age. We apply the Composite Index of Anthropometric Failure (CIAF) in our empirical analysis as a proxy measure to denote the malnutrition measurement index, and a binary logistic regression model using PDHS dataset for 2017-18. The logistic regression model inspects the probability of malnutrition among children. The result demonstrates that the age of children, education and employment status of mothers, BMI of mothers, assets owned by mothers, tetanus vaccination of mothers, the incidence of diarrhea in children, and household wealth has a significant impact on malnutrition in children. The study concludes that socioeconomic deprivations and inequalities in society play a significant role in determining the health and nutrition of preschool children.