Climatic Hazards Hotspot Map
1.4 Food security and nutrition in
Bangladesh
In the last 20 years, Bangladesh has made tremendous progress in relation to human development and poverty in both urban and rural areas declined by an impressive 19 percentage points in the last decade-and-a-half (BDHS 2011). Bangladesh also continues to make steady progress in reducing child undernutrition and household food security. Notably chronic child undernutrition (stunting) decreased by three percent between 2011 and 2012 (HKI-BRAC 2014).
The government with the help and support of its partners has improved coverage and access to basic health, nutrition, and population services, which are reflected in encouraging improvements. Today, nearly 90%
of Bangladeshi children receive Vitamin A supplements and over 80%
Table 1. Districts in Bangladesh most affected by the 6 major types of climatic-related events considered in this study
Climate Hazards Drought
Flood
Cyclone
Flash Flood
Riverbank Erosion
Salinity Intrusion
North-West region which includes Chapai Nawabganj, Jessore, Naogaon, Natore, and Rajshahi districts Middle and North-Eastern part of Bangladesh which includes Bogra, Chandpur, Gaibandha, Jamalpur, Kurigram, Manikganj, Pabna, Sirajganj and Tangail districts
Coastal districts located in the southern area of the country.
Frequently affected districts are Bagerhat, Khulna, Barguna, Barisal, Bhola, Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar, Patuakhali and Satkhira districts
Greater Sylhet division (Habiganj, Maulvibazar, Sunamganj, Sylhet districts) and Netrokona district
Kurigram, Gaibandha, Bogra, Sirajganj, Chandpur, Faridpur, Tangail, and Jamalpur districts
Coastal districts of Satkhira, Bagerhat, Khulna, Barguna, Pirojpur and Patuakhali
Districts
are vaccinated, contributing to an impressive reduction in infant and child mortality by more than two-thirds since 1990. This initiative resulted in a 40 percent reduction in maternal mortality between 2001 and 2010, and a 26 percent reduction in under-five child mortality between 2004 and 2010 (World Bank 2014). Bangladesh is on track to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets in child health and maternal health,
and the United Nations awarded its MDG Award 2010 for reducing child mortality to Bangladesh.
Yet, Bangladesh still faces considerable development challenges. The absolute number of poor people remains significant: around 64 million people still live below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day (World Bank 2014). Despite the tripling of rice production over the past 40 years,
chronic malnutrition remains one of the greatest constraints to individual and household wellbeing in Bangladesh (in part due to the slow increases in levels of production of nutrient rich foods) (Beddington et al. 2012). Despite some improvement, the undernutrition situation remains serious with 41% of children under five years of age stunted in 2011, and 36% underweight and 24%
of women underweight and 13% of short stature (BDHS 2011). More than a quarter of the population (26.8 percent) suffer from food inadequacy (FAO 2013).
In rural areas for instance, per capita consumption of vegetables, fish, and tubers falls short of the minimum level recommended by the government for a healthy life, whereas an even larger deficit exists for pulses, fruits, oils, and animal-source foods (Hossain et al. 2005). Thorne-Lyman et al. (2010) showed that even prior to the 2008-2009 food price crisis and global economic downturn, there was relatively little variety in the diet of rural Bangladeshi households. When women’s diets in Bangladesh were analyzed to develop guidelines for dietary diversity scores, less than 5% of women had even a 70%
probability of obtaining the minimum level of required nutrients from their diets (Arimond et al. 2009).
In that context a growing number of experts are concerned that the recent progress made in relation to food
MALNUTRITION | a state in which the physical function of an individual is impaired to the point where he or she can no longer maintain adequate bodily performance processes such as growth, pregnancy, lactation, physical work and resisting and recovering from disease (WFP 2009).
UNDERNUTRITION | The consequence of an insufficient intake of energy, protein and/or micronutrients, poor absorption or rapid loss of nutrients due to illness or increased energy expenditure. Undernutrition encompasses low birth weight, stunting, wasting, underweight, and micronutrient deficiencies (WFP 2012b).
STUNTING | Low height/length for age for children over 2 years; a measure of chronic malnutrition characterized by a slowing in the growth of a foetus or child and resulting in a failure to achieve expected length in comparison to a healthy, well-nourished child of the same age (WFP 2009).
WASTING | Low weight for height; a measure of acute malnutrition characterized by considerable weight loss or failure to gain weight, which results in a child’s weight being substantially below that expected in a healthy child of the same length or height (WFP 2009).
FOOD SECURITY | Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life; household food security is the application of this concept to the family level, with individuals within households as the focus of concern (World Food Summit 1996).
NUTRITION | Nutrition is the intake of food, considered in relation to the body’s dietary needs. Good nutrition – an adequate, well balanced diet combined with regular physical activity – is a cornerstone of good health.
Poor nutrition can lead to reduced immunity, increased susceptibility to disease, impaired physical and mental development, and reduced productivity (WHO 2014).
Box 1: key terms related to food and nutrition security
security and nutrition in Bangladesh may get cancelled out by the increasing frequency and severity of climate-related extreme events. Already some past analyses suggest that extreme events in Bangladesh have had detrimental impacts on people’s nutritional status. Del Ninno and his colleagues for instance using a small 750 household panel data-set found that the prevalence of chronic undernutrition increases among children that had been affected by the 1998 flood (Del Ninno et al. 2003). Similarly Bloem and his colleagues, using the Nutrition Surveillance Programme data-set (the earlier sets of data which we are using in this analysis) found that child wasting was still extremely high in April 1992 (32%) i.e. 12 months after the 1991 cyclone Gorky and remained above 15% until October 1992 (Bloem et al. 2003). They also found that for up to one year after the 1998 flood, 46-50% of non-pregnant mothers in the affected areas were still displaying chronic energy deficiency (CED, body mass index <18.5 kg/m2). The prevalence of CED remained high during the 10 months following the flood (Aug 1998 – Jun 1999) suggesting that mothers’ nutritional status deteriorated due to the flood. At the same time though, Bloem and his co-authors found that the 1998 flood did not seem to have a notable impact on child nutritional status, even though the prevalence of diarrhoea over the same period almost doubled between August and October 1998 in the flood-affected sub-districts and did not return to the pre-flood level until February 1999, six months after the flood waters receded.