Effect of extreme weather events on injury, disability, and death in Bangladesh

Ahmed, S., Hasan, M., Pongsiri, M., Ahmed, M., Szabo, S

Published in ‘Climate and Development’

Abstract

While there is increasing evidence on the trends and impacts of climate change, both globally and in Bangladesh, there is a limited quantitative analysis on the impacts of natural disasters on population health and the association with socio-economic characteristics. Using data from the ‘Bangladesh Disaster-Related Statistics-2015’, we assessed disaster-related health outcomes namely, injury, disability, and death. We applied three logistic regression models to examine the relationships between individual socio-economic characteristics, reported disaster-related injury, disability, and death. Our study found that 145.9 disaster-related injuries, 14.4 disabilities, and 21.0 deaths per 100,000population were reported in Bangladesh over 2009–2014. Floods were responsible for the highest percentage of injury, disability, and death followed by thunderstorms. The elderly and children were more likely to suffer from disaster-related injuries compared to adults. Disaster preparedness was a protective factor for both disasters related injury and disability. We observed geographic variation in the number of injuries, disability, and death across the districts in Bangladesh. Policy-makers can use the study findings to strengthen risk-monitoring, assessment, and preparedness strategies and actions for extreme weather events related to the rapidly changing climate.