Bangladesh: Providing tuberculosis treatment services to people displaced by climate change – Stories

September 19, 2024

Bangladesh has the sixth-highest burden of tuberculosis (TB) on the planet – however the country’s response has been consistent and robust. More than 300,000 individuals with TB are identified and referred for treatment annually. Deaths attributed to TB have fallen by 36% since 2015, and the country has maintained a 95% treatment success rate for nearly a decade. Yet the growing impacts of climate change are threatening the country’s progress towards eliminating the disease.

Bangladesh is the seventh country on the planet most vulnerable to extreme disaster risk, based on the 2021 Global Climate Risk Index. The country’s air quality is among the many worst on the planet. Tuberculosis is more common in people exposed to air pollution. Bangladesh is susceptible to cyclones, floods, extreme heat and sea level rise. People along the coast bear the brunt of devastating storms: homes and vital health infrastructure are destroyed by wind, rain and floods, and water supplies are increasingly polluted.

Hundreds of hundreds of individuals move to the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, yearly. About 70% of those that migrate and settle in the town’s poorest areas have been forced to go away their homes by climate-related disasters, based on the International Organization for Migration. In Dhaka, climate migrants live in cramped living quarters with poor hygiene—perfect conditions for the spread of tuberculosis. In the primary six months of 2024, greater than 1,060 people diagnosed with tuberculosis in Dhaka were recent arrivals who fled their homes due to rain and flooding.

The Bangladesh National TB Programme and BRAC, Global Fund partners in Bangladesh, are adapting testing and treatment services to satisfy growing demand in Dhaka’s poorest neighbourhoods. This includes increasing case-finding and providing preventive medicine to individuals with TB so their families and neighbours are less more likely to get the disease. They are also providing funds to supply dietary support to essentially the most vulnerable in these communities and buying mobile X-ray machines which are easy to hold and use in tight spaces.

With resilient and agile partners, sustained investment, and versatile funding to deal with crises, Bangladesh can address the challenges of climate change and stay heading in the right direction to finish TB.