The reduced working hours due to high temperature in Bangladesh in the past year caused an estimated economic loss of $21 billion, revealed a report released by the influential medical journal, The Lancet, on Wednesday.
The report titled 鈥楥ountdown on health and climate change: facing record-breaking threats from delayed action鈥� said that nearly 26.5 billion potential labour hours were lost in the country due to excessive heat in 2023.
It also revealed that high temperature continued to take toll on lives and livelihoods in the country, affecting millions who are also enduring frequent events of extreme natural disasters.
Agriculture workers bore the brunt, accounting for 63.5 per cent of the potential hours of work lost in the past year. The loss of the potential working hours resulted in huge economic loss. Farmers accounted for 54 per cent of the economic loss.
Children less than one year of age was 2.3 times more exposed to heatwave days in 2023, compared with the number of heatwave days experienced by the same age group on 1986-2005.
Adults over 65, on the other hand, experienced 5.2 times more heatwave days over the same period, the report said.
Individuals faced moderate or higher heat stress risks for approximately 2,800 hours each year, which is equivalent to one-third of the year during light outdoor activities.
Extreme drought is also recurring in Bangladesh with 82 per cent of the country experiencing it at least for one month between 2019 and 2023.
Over the same period, 41 per cent of Bangladesh experienced at least three months of drought while a quarter of the country endured extreme drought for six months or even more.
A press release issued on the occasion of the launching of the report quoted Marina Romanello, executive director of the Lancet Countdown, as saying that urgent action was needed before it was too late.
Marina Romanello said that the ongoing expansion of fossil fuels exacerbates health impacts linked to climate change, threatening to undo the limited progress achieved thus far.
Air pollution worsened by the increased burning of fossil fuels also took a huge toll on Bangladeshis, the report said.
The report attributed 2,12,000 deaths to anthropogenic air pollution due to health complications triggered by the emission of particulate matter 2.5 in 2021.
Fossil fuels, particularly coal and liquid gas, contributed to 40.4 per cent of these deaths, with the monetized value of premature mortality from air pollution reaching $52.6 billion.
The indoor burning of solid fuels compounded health risks, causing approximately 74 deaths per 1,00,000 individuals in Bangladesh in 2020, the report said.
Climate change is also facilitating the transmission of different infectious diseases, including dengue and malaria.
Climatic conditions favoured the spread of malaria along the coast from 2014 to 2023. About 44.5 million people living within 100 kilometres of coastal waters are at risk of contracting malaria.聽
Referring to the World Health Organization, the report said that dengue cases substantially increased in Bangladesh, exacerbated by climate change impacts such as increased temperatures and heavy rainfall. Mosquitoes spreading the disease can now be found in greater concentration in areas that were previously unexposed to the disease.
Despite the temperature dangerously rising and the air getting even more polluted, Bangladesh continued to pursue fossil fuel expansion, giving huge subsidies, which was $26.8 billion in 2022.
The report advocates for a transformative approach to global financial systems that prioritises health and reallocates resources from a fossil fuel-dependent economy to a zero-emissions future, said the press release.
This transition will promote public health and well-being through cleaner air, better diets, and sustainable job opportunities.
From 2018 to 2022, about 172 million people in Bangladesh were exposed to sand and dust levels that exceeded the WHO standard at least once during the past five years.