Bangladesh Public Health Issues and Implications to Flood Risk Reduction

Abstract

Bangladesh is a disaster-prone country and suffers from increasingly frequent and devastating natural calamities owing to its geographical location and environmental situation. Climate change exacerbates its vulnerability and the country ranks sixth worst among the world’s top 10 countries most affected by extreme weather events in the last 20 years. Seventy percent of its population live in flood-prone regions and 26% are affected by cyclones. This section reviews major threats to public health related to flood in Bangladesh, including communicable diseases such as water-borne and vector-borne diseases such as diarrhea, acute respiratory infection, and dengue fever. Effects of climate change including flood also affect agriculture and increase malnutrition, particularly among young children. Additionally, some health issues affected by disasters which have drawn scant attention are mental health, violence against children and women, chronic diseases, salinity of drinking water, and urban health; these problems are also discussed in the context of Bangladesh, with special emphasis on urban flooding and its adverse effects on the urban poor population. Primary health care system development in the country has generally indicated successful achievements. It, along with poverty reduction efforts, has contributed, to a substantial extent, to improvement of disaster management. However, urgent action is required for more coherent program to integrate health systems into H-EDRM.