Raising serious public health concerns, a new survey has found that around 64 per cent of the women living in the climate change-hit islands of Sundarbans suffer from anaemia.
The study conducted by the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED) and the international NGO Save the Children in Patharpratima block has found that the overall prevalence of anaemia in women is as high as 64 per cent.
"Panchayat-disaggregated data clearly revealed that all the panchayats had 'severe public health problem' as the prevalence of anaemia was greater than 40 per cent in each of them," said the report.
Anaemia is the scarcity in the number of red blood cells or the amount of hemoglobin in the blood. The major health consequences include poor pregnancy outcome, impaired physical and cognitive development, increased risk of morbidity in children and reduced work productivity in adults.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), anaemia contributes to 20 per cent of all maternal deaths.
NICED's Dr Samiran Panda, who lead the study, said besides nutritional deficiencies, unhygienic practices prevalent among the people of Sundarbans are also responsible for anaemia.
As a result of climate change induced sea level rise, instances of coastal erosion, flooding and cyclone incidences have increased manifold in the Sundarban swamps putting the villagers at greater health risks.
After the 2009 Aila cyclone many toilets were rendered dysfunctional as villages went under water. Sources of drinking water supply also gets contaminated with flooding in the low-lying islands which are home to 40 lakh people.
