Bangladesh’s spending on climate-related health programs has declined sharply in recent years despite mounting climate-linked disease burdens and health risks, while less than 1% of the country’s dedicated climate fund has been allocated to health projects, researchers and policymakers warned at a policy dialogue in Dhaka on Saturday.
The warning came as Bangladesh prepares its FY2026-27 national budget, with experts calling for stronger climate-health financing, institutional reforms and greater investment in health system resilience.
Presenting findings from two new studies at a dialogue titled “Climate-Responsive Health Financing” and “Health System Resilience in Bangladesh,” researchers said climate-relevant allocations within the Health Services Division fell from 2.74% of its budget in FY2021-22 to 1.97% in FY2025-26.
Health’s share of the national climate budget also declined from around 2.5% to 1.5% during the same period.
The event, organized by the Centre for Participatory Research and Development (CPRD) in collaboration with HEKS/EPER and Shushilan, also revealed that of 877 projects financed through the Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund (BCCTF) as of 2024, only three were implemented through the Health Services Division.
Researchers said climate-health financing remains fragmented and heavily dependent on development projects, with more than 60% of expenditure concentrated in project-based activities, leaving disease surveillance, emergency preparedness, workforce development, research and long-term resilience underfunded.
A second study highlighted the growing health impacts of climate change on coastal women and adolescent girls.
It found that salinity intrusion, water scarcity, climate-induced poverty and inadequate sanitation are contributing to menstrual irregularities, reproductive tract infections, miscarriage, pre-eclampsia, postpartum infections and other maternal health complications.
Around 72% of households in surveyed areas rely on saline-contaminated water, while previous studies cited by the researchers found that 53% to 65% of women in affected coastal regions suffer from reproductive tract infections.
AKM Sohel, additional secretary and UN wing chief at the Economic Relations Division (ERD), said Bangladesh must generate stronger evidence linking climate change and health outcomes to secure increasingly scarce global climate finance.
Prof Dr Md Iqbal Kabir, director of the Climate Change and Health Promotion Unit under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, said health receives only a small fraction of climate finance despite Bangladesh being among the countries most vulnerable to climate change.
Speakers, including representatives from the ERD and the Embassy of Switzerland in Bangladesh, stressed that stronger scientific evidence, better climate-budget tracking and closer coordination between health and climate institutions are essential to mobilize both domestic and international financing.
Moderating the discussion, CPRD chief executive Md Shamsuddoha said climate change and health could no longer be addressed separately, calling for greater collaboration among climate experts, health professionals, policymakers and financiers.
The dialogue concluded with recommendations to integrate Health National Adaptation Plan priorities into national budgeting and expand access to climate finance for health-focused adaptation initiatives.
