Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change in the world, likely to suffer worse in the future than any other South Asian country. While climate change impacts all genders, girls and women face heightened vulnerability to the effects of climate change as their reproductive health also gets affected by poor facilities and access to other infrastructure.
The geographical location of Bangladesh shows that flooding, drought, and cyclones are common challenges that the country is facing periodically every year. The UN has found Bangladesh to be among the five most hazard-prone countries in Asia and the Pacific according to the 2021 Regional Focus Model (RFM) on disaster vulnerability. All these impacts of climate change do not only affect Bangladesh’s economic and social aspects, but also seriously makes the women and children vulnerable in terms of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) aspects.
The fact is environmental crises like drought, heavy rainfall, flood, extreme heat, increased salinity and other climate-related phenomena can increase the risk of maternal and newborn ill health, increased child marriage, and gender-based violence in Bangladesh. Women and children become the most vulnerable during and after the disasters as impacts of climate change. Women are especially vulnerable here due to lack of access or facilities to medical care, services, Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) services, adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) services, and maternity and pregnancy related services. They are also being deprived of security, privacy, safety, and the scarcity of hygiene products such as sanitary napkins and most importantly, also being deprived of the dignity of human life during the crisis period.
It is crucial to identify and establish the linkage between climate change and SRHR in the context of Bangladesh, given the urgent need to understand and establish how gender and SRHR related information and message could provide a positive impact to the huge number of women and young girls living at the risk of climate vulnerability in Bangladesh.
Gender equality, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and climate change issues are inextricably linked. Access to safe and dignified menstruation is a fundamental need for women and girls. A growing evidence base from this country shows that many girls are not able to manage their Menstrual Health (MH) and associated hygiene with ease and dignity. These girls and women cannot practice good menstrual health and hygiene at home, at school, at work, or in other public settings, due to a combination of discriminatory social environments, inaccurate information, poor facilities, and limited choice of absorbent materials. This deprivation is even more acute for girls and women in emergencies especially during any kind of natural disaster. When a climate-related disaster strikes, women and girls are exposed to vulnerabilities that put them at greater risk of women health issues such as maintaining SRHR.
Maintaining menstrual hygiene is not easy in Bangladesh, where people often do not even utter its name because of the associated stigma and taboo. Menstrual myths have a long history in a country like Bangladesh but small changes are taking place to help break the taboo and create awareness about the need for hygiene for girls and women.
Coastal regions are known as climate change hotspots in Bangladesh where the majority of girls and females still lack proper practice of menstrual hygiene during their periods. Such unhygienic practices can cause serious health issues and may even lead to death. When menstrual health is still taboo in Bangladesh, very few people think of helping women by providing sanitary napkins during their periods and it is beyond expectation in a natural disaster-prone area.
To procure appropriate menstrual hygiene materials for women and girls in both development and emergency contexts, it is important to understand the potential advantages and health benefits of those hygiene products in different contexts. RHM specific education will teach and develop skills of the young girls and females to better respond to their rights and build awareness and confidence.
During any natural disasters related to climate change, health services specifically sexual and reproductive health services -- are often limited and at times not available whereas it is much-needed medical support. In addition, women’s and girl's ability to manage their menstruation with dignity is impaired when there is a lack of clean water and menstrual products.
For marginalized and vulnerable groups of people, as well as those with disabilities, the impact of climate change exacerbates their existing challenges and vulnerabilities. When women are not able to realize their SRHR, they cannot live to their full potential, as a result they aren’t interested in pursuing education and improving their livelihoods. The existing barriers are particularly high for girls and women and those who experience multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and oppression, such as underprivileged or climate change affected peoples or climate refugees.
On the other hand, when people, especially women would have realized their SRHR, their capacity to engage in climate change adaptation actions would be greater. They can make decisions to better manage risks, pursue new livelihood strategies, and raise their voice for awareness building and collective action. This enables them to be more resilient to the impacts of climate change and active contributors to climate solutions.
Every government needs to understand what is ahead of us in terms of the future. We hope that our government will continue to support specific initiatives for women, particularly encouraging small and medium size manufacturers across the country to promote accessible and affordable hygiene products for women and girls in rural and hard-to-reach regions of the country specially in the disaster-prone area.
It also urged all sanitary napkin manufacturers to immediately apply this tax-exemption on prices, so that women and girls may get benefitted. To ensure healthier communities and protect the wellbeing of all, including women and girls, adaptation and resilience strategies need to be an integral part of the national health plan as well as knowledge and research contributions to the policymakers is badly needed.
Nazneen Khan, PhD, is working as a Researcher at ICCCAD. She can be reached at [email protected].
