Water and its beauty naturally implements itself abundantly in Bangladesh. The nation can be characterized by its labyrinth of gushing rivers, landscapes freckled with lakes, downpours that cut through the humid air, and a coastal silhouette -- which contains Cox’s Bazar, the longest natural sea beach in the world. While Bangladesh is home to water in many forms, it is also home to over 171.2 million individuals.
Access to clean and safe water is a human right, and the country’s geographical situation can be advantageous to the residents in the sense that water is plentiful. But ensuring that this water is clean and safe is where there is a goal yet to be met. Lack of proper sanitation and hygiene can be detrimental to the health of an individual and is a major public health hazard and concern. Poor water quality can house dangerous bacteria like E coli and expose people to water-borne diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, and hepatitis which are particularly threatening in Bangladesh. Shortcomings in the field known as WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) have been impacting the populations of rural and urban areas alike in the country.
The sixth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) established by the United Nations is to achieve “clean water and sanitation for all.” One factor that has also contributed to slow progress for this SDG and the use of contaminated water and poor hygiene, is a lack of education on the importance of WASH to people in Bangladesh, especially those in more rural regions. As the quality of water improves and contamination decreases in the coming years, it is important to communicate to the people, particularly those impoverished who are the most vulnerable to the issue, the danger of poor sanitation. For instance, water that appears sanitized may and could very well be contaminated, and a lack of precaution could lead to illness via the consumption of such water. Generally, the efforts made towards better sanitation will not be as effective if people are unaware of their significance to health.
Water that appears sanitized may and could very well be contaminated, and a lack of precaution could lead to illness via the consumption of such water
As previously mentioned, clean water may be unfavourably scarce in Bangladesh, but all water is not. Bangladesh has struggled with cyclones and flooding in many ways, and one of these is that these floods spread contaminated water and contaminate other clean water sources as they do so. By reducing the risk and impact of floods, the risk and impact of contamination is also diminished. The nation is working on building embankments, polders, and developing better drainage systems to reduce harm induced by flooding. Residents are also being encouraged not to settle in places where flooding is a high risk, and housing and agriculture that is more resilient to floods and the climate is being implemented. The weather and climate is not something that can be easily harnessed, still the nation strives to do what is possible to minimize the harm in the context of WASH.
Furthermore, the growth of Community-Led Total Sanitation is a strong initiative to improve WASH conditions. It entails the discouragement and termination of open-defecation in the community in order to ensure water sanitation. Bangladesh has seen incredible success using the Community-Led Total Sanitation model in its WASH mission. In 1990, the country’s open-defecation rate was alarmingly high at 34%. Since then, this percentage has declined to 1.5% in 2019. Additionally in 1990, only 79% of the population had access to drinking water from a technologically improved source, whereas now this portion has risen remarkably to 98%.
The nation has a series of specific goals outlined in regards to WASH for the coming years, and the overarching one is that SDG six be achieved by 2030. The success that has been seen thus far strengthens the confidence that Bangladesh will be able to make significant strides towards these goals, nearing total sanitation and water decontamination. Bangladesh is moving in the direction of a future where the health, safety, and livelihoods of its citizens can flourish due to advancements in WASH.
Ann Kaydos-Daniels is a student at the American International School, Dhaka.
