Climate change has been causing an increase in the health risks faced by residents of the several coastal and riverside districts of Bangladesh, a recent study has found.
According to its findings, 61% people living in eight districts of Bangladesh were facing serious health risks because of the severe salinity of water.
Water and food-borne diseases were on the rise as fresh water was unavailable to at least 80% of the coastal residents, while women and children were most vulnerable to the diseases.
The baseline study titled “Risk Reduction of Climate Change on Health through Finding out Adaptive Measures in the Context of Bangladesh” and conducted by the climate change and health promotion unit of the health ministry, was published at the city’s Cirdap auditorium yesterday.
Dr Iqbal Kabir, principle investigator and co-coordinator of the ministry’s climate change and health promotion unit, presented the keynote paper and said the study was the health ministry’s first ever survey on the health risks caused by climate change.
The study found that 46% of the surveyed population was unaware about the aspects of climate change.
The problem of water salinity could be solved by setting up water treatment plants in the pond, the study found; while Dr Kabir said they had support to establish 10 water treatment plants at a cost of Tk15 lakh each, which could ensure fresh water and save thousands of people from water-borne diseases.
The study was carried out in 2012 at eight districts – Sirajganj, Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar, Khluna, Satkhira, Bagerhat, Barguna and Faridpur.
Interviews were collected from 6720 people over the age of 18 from 224 villages in 28 upazilas.
The report found 245 malaria and 34 dengue patients in the districts, although most of those districts were not malaria-prone. Moreover, 700 diarrheal and 529 pneumonia patients were found at the time of the study in 2012.
The report recommended increasing awareness especially among women and children, addressing issues of poverty and level of education, and training community-based health workers and influential local leaders on adaptive measures. It also called for the need to repeat the study periodically to assess the trends of climate sensitive diseases, awareness level and adaptive measures.
