World Health Organization today called for focused efforts to mitigate the adverse impact of climate change on human health, which is likely to intensify existing challenges of dengue and malaria and food security in Bangladesh.
Climate and Health Country Profile 2015 released this week warns of increased temperatures, intense heat waves, more extreme rainfall, floods, and landslides in the country and related increase in deaths due to extreme temperatures and rising prevalence and outbreaks of diseases such as dengue, malaria, and diarrhoea.
“Climate change threatens to undermine Bangladesh’s significant achievements in the health sector. The country profile should be used to base policies and practices to protect human health from climate change”, Dr N. Paranietharan, WHO Representative to Bangladesh, said.
WHO, along with the Bangladesh Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and a range of partners, worked to develop the country’s profile, which provides evidence on the links between climate change and health
Health issues should receive due priority in climate change programmes along with adequate involvement of the decision makers in the health adaptation process, Dr Paranietharan said.
WHO called for government action to conduct evaluations of health implications in climate change mitigation policies. An exclusive national policy for climate change issues also needs to be developed, utilising a rights-based approach and taking action to mainstream gender so that impacts of climate change on the health of women and children are addressed. Vast resources are also required for building climate resilient health care facilities.
Though Bangladesh has been taking initiatives to implement health adaptation programmes including a national assessment of climate change impacts, vulnerability and adaptation for health and to build technical capacity, the country profile identifies additional opportunities for action.
Key climate change implications for health in Bangladesh
Climate change is expected to cause important health risks in Bangladesh. WHO says that unless considerable protective measures are taken, an average of 7.2 million people are projected to be affected by flooding due to sea level increases every year between 2070 – 2100. If global emissions decrease rapidly and adaptation interventions are taken, the population affected by flooding could be limited to about 14,000 people. It is also anticipated that 20.3 million people will be living in cyclone high risk areas by 2050, compared to 8.3 million at present. An additional 7.6 million people will be exposed to very high salinity (>5 parts per thousand) by 2050.
Diarrhoeal deaths attributable to climate change in children under 15 years old is projected to comprise about 8% of the number diarrhoeal-related deaths projected in 2030 –and will rise to 13% by 2050. By 2070, over 147 million people will be at risk of malaria assuming a high emissions scenario.
Heat-related deaths in the elderly (65+ years) are likely to increase to almost 30 deaths per 100,000 by 2080 compared to the estimated baseline of fewer than 4 deaths per 100,000 annually between 1961 and 1990.
Outdoor air pollution can have severe consequence for health and increase mortality from respiratory infections, lung cancer, and cardiovascular disease. Women and children are at greater risk of disease rom household pollution which is also responsible for a larger number of deaths from ischaemic heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and COPD in women compared to men.
Note to Editors:
The Climate and Health Country Profiles are coordinated by WHO with the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, funded and supported by the Wellcome Trust, and produced with leading experts at the University of East Anglia, CDP, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the World Meteorological Organization and the World Bank.