Preparing for the next flood: Protecting women’s health in Bangladesh

Climate change has worsened monsoon flooding in Bangladesh, putting women of child-bearing age at risk – but the UN reproductive health agency (UNFPA) is helping them prepare. Sunamganj is a district in the wetland ecosystem in northeast Bangladesh, which is particularly vulnerable to climate change. Floods arrive quickly and suddenly and can last for weeks. They disrupt life, displace families and cut off access to services. For the over 670,000 women of reproductive age living in the area, increasingly extreme weather events are threatening their access to reproductive healthcare.

To help prepare for these crises, UNFPA is training reproductive-aged women to protect themselves and their children during the next flood. Shakila Akhter, a 24-year-old mother of two, was eight months pregnant during the last flood. “Thanks to the training I received, I knew what to carry, how to prepare and how to protect my family,” she recalled. She now uses family planning tools she didn’t know about before: “I want to choose when I’m ready for another child.”

She also underscored the link between climate change and these severe floods: “We understand that the climate has changed over the past 20 years. In Bangladesh, the flood season has become longer, sudden floods are more frequent, heatwaves have intensified, and winters are now shorter. “So, we all should be prepared to manage it to survive.”

This training is made possible by volunteers trained to help others prepare for climate shocks. Shakila Begum, 26, began volunteering with just two days of training. She works with the Climate Resilience Health System and Community initiative – supported by the UNFPA and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency – which educates women on topics from menstruation to childbirth during floods.

Ms. Begum is now the point of contact for 75 families, helping them with issues like family planning and maternal healthcare. “One woman had dangerously high blood pressure just before giving birth,” she recalled. “I advised her family to go to the local hospital, where she safely delivered – completely free of cost.” UNFPA Representative Catherine Breen Kamkong (centre) meets Shakila Begum (right, in green), a 26-year-old volunteer with the Climate Resilience Health System and Community Project in Sunamganj.

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Source: The UN