Infected and Stressed by Climate Variability : New Empirical Evidence from Bangladesh
Bangladesh’s extreme vulnerability to the effects of climate change is well documented. Through a complex pathway, climatic conditions have already negatively impacted human health worldwide. This is likely to escalate if predicted changes in weath...
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| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/undefined/399941634015788273/Infected-and-Stressed-by-Climate-Variability-New-Empirical-Evidence-from-Bangladesh http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36506 |
| Summary: | Bangladesh’s extreme vulnerability to
the effects of climate change is well documented. Through a
complex pathway, climatic conditions have already negatively
impacted human health worldwide. This is likely to escalate
if predicted changes in weather patterns hold. Infectious
disease transmission will change in pattern and incidence
for certain vector-borne diseases such as malaria and
dengue, and waterborne diseases such as diarrhea and
cholera. The incidence of respiratory disease will be
affected by extreme temperatures that exacerbate the effects
of allergens and of air pollution (World Bank 2012). If
global warming progresses toward a 4°C increase scenario, a
scenario presented as the worst case at the 2015 Paris
Climate Change Conference of Parties, stresses on human
health can overburden the systems to a point where
adaptation will no longer be possible (World Bank 2012).
Hence the urgent need for the public sector to be better
prepared to respond to the crisis. The consequences of
climate change and/or climate variability are well
documented and hypothesized. The literature linking climate
change or climate variability and health, however, is less
so. Climate variability refers to short-term changes in the
average meteorological conditions over a month, a season, or
a year. Climate change, however, refers to changes in
average metrological conditions and seasonal patterns over a
much longer time (Mani and Wang 2014). Compared to the
availability of global evidence on this topic, the evidence
from Bangladesh is far more limited. Among the studies
available for Bangladesh, some require further
substantiation because they are mostly regional one-off
studies with a range of methodological limitations. In doing
so, the report responds to several key questions, summarized
in this subsection. What it does not do is construct
mathematical models for projecting the incidence and
prevalence of infectious diseases and mental health issues
based on predicted climate change patterns. Nor does it
attempt to establish a causal relationship between climate
change and the selected health conditions. The report uses
primary data from a nationally representative sample of
about 3,600 households surveyed during the monsoon and dry
seasons. It links weather variables, the incidence of
selected diseases, and health conditions in Bangladesh to
ensure that the findings are, as much as possible, based on
precise climate and health data. The recommendations,
therefore, are context-specific and drawn from primary evidence. |
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