BD ‘needs $2.8b’ to address climate caused health hazards

Bangladesh needs US$ 2.8 billion by 2021 to address health hazards caused by the adverse impacts of climate change, according to an official estimate. “If the climate change keeps on hitting the country, we’ll need US$ 2.8 billion to address health problems,” said coordinator of Climate Change Health Promotion Unit Dr Iqbal Kabir while revealing the findings of a project here on Monday. The Climate Change Health Promotion Unit (CCHPU) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare organised a programme at Cirdap to unveil the project competition report (2010-13) of ‘the risk reduction and adaptive measures in context of climate change impact on the health sector in Bangladesh’. As climate change impact will continue to stress the health sector more in the coming days, Dr Kabir said, the government must provide about 5-6 percent additional allocation to cope with the health problems emerged due to global warming, according to UNB.