August 22, 2025
DHAKA –
- 60% girls lack access to menstrual health products
- 2.5% households have access to sexual, reproductive health services
- Unsafe drinking water affects 72% households
- Early marriage, gender-based violence rise during climate crisis
Climate emergencies are hitting girls, women, and marginalised communities hardest in Khulna and Satkhira, a new study has revealed.
Over 60 percent of adolescent girls struggle to access menstrual health products, while only 2.5 percent of households have consistent access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services during disasters.
The research also highlighted a worrying rise in early marriage and gender-based violence, with 78 percent of women reporting increased risks during climate crises.
The findings of the study, titled “Understanding SRHR, WASH, and Livelihoods Situations and Pathways Forward in Climate-Vulnerable Locations of Southwest Bangladesh”, were shared at a national dissemination workshop organised by Plan International Bangladesh at a city hotel yesterday.
Unsafe drinking water remains a major concern, with 72 percent of households depending on saline-contaminated sources. Women and girls, in particular, bear the burden of long and unsafe journeys to collect water, the study said.
Sanitation facilities are also inadequate, with only 24.8 percent of households having access to improved facilities, further complicating menstrual hygiene management during emergencies.
Girls’ education is being disrupted, as many are forced to spend hours fetching water or struggle with a lack of menstrual hygiene support, affecting their future opportunities.
Livelihoods in the region are under severe strain, with over 80 percent of households reporting income losses due to crop failure, aquaculture damage, and limited job opportunities. With scarce local employment, many young people are being forced into risky migration to urban areas.
The study recommended several measures, including ensuring emergency-ready sexual and reproductive health services, training health workers and youth volunteers, establishing safe spaces for girls and women, and integrating menstrual health into school disaster-preparedness plans.
It also advised expanding rainwater harvesting, supporting women-led desalination projects, forming gender-balanced water user groups, and providing affordable reusable sanitary products through school-based social enterprises.
The study further called for climate-smart agriculture and eco-aquaculture training, linking women and youth producers to green supply chains, and ensuring their inclusion in government safety-net programmes through advocacy and digital platforms.
At the event, Mohammad Navid Safiullah, additional secretary of the environment ministry, said, “Climate change is not just an environmental challenge; it is a profound human development crisis. The findings highlight interlinked vulnerabilities across reproductive health and rights, WASH, and livelihoods, placing women, youth, and marginalised communities at greatest risk.”
Dr Ashrafi Ahmad, director general of the Directorate General of Family Planning, said, “The impacts of climate change are also a public health and human rights crisis. Our health and family planning systems must be climate- and gender-sensitive.”
Nayoka Martinez-Backstrom, first secretary and deputy head of development cooperation at the Embassy of Sweden, said, “Southwestern Bangladesh is highly vulnerable. Studies like this guide systematic change, but we need support from local governments, policymakers and youth to deliver real solutions.”
The workshop also marked the launch of Plan International Bangladesh’s DURBAR Programme, a flagship initiative promoting climate justice and gender equality in coastal areas.