Exploring Human Health Exposure and Way Forward with Climate Resilient Health in the Coastal Areas of Bangladesh

Abstract

Human health largely depends on the natural environment and its ecosystem, and our environment is being changed rapidly along with its changing climate throughout the world. Due to geographical position, Bangladesh has formed itself as one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. The coastal areas of Bangladesh are projected as a zone of multiple vulnerabilities, combined with many natural hazards and disasters, including coastal flooding, cyclones, storm surges, erosion, salinity, arsenic contamination, which have pushed coastal dwellers into acute physical and mental health risk. Sixty one percent people living in eight coastal districts of Bangladesh are facing serious health risks because of the ruinous climatic event like a cyclone, storm surge, water logging, arsenic contamination and salinity intrusion. Children, women and elderly persons are the most vulnerable groups facing serious health challenges. The risk of injury and death also increased in large extent during the recent natural disasters. Community-based adaptation is an approach which considers diverse perspectives such as social, cultural, environmental and economics to facilitate community preparedness and resilience to a changing climate, offering multiple returns. The current study focused on three coastal districts namely Khulna, Satkhira, and Bagerhat. This paper aims to investigate the climate change induced health problems in the coastal community of Bangladesh and finds the scope of community-based adaptation approaches to mitigate and prevent local community’s health risks through case studies and Focus Group Discussion method. The study reveals that failing to address adaptation will foster communities poorly prepared for the climatic changes expected over the next few decades.
Keywords: Community-based adaptation, Climate change, Climate resilience of health, Health risk, Coastal community, Bangladesh