Children are suffering from malnutrition in the coastal area of Bangladesh due to climate change effects. A shocking picture was found in Debhata under Satkhira, a coastal district near the Sundarbans (mangrove forest).

This Debhata Upazila is affected by the various effects of climate change despite being a little far from the sea coast.

A 13 months child was found to be treated at this Upazila health complex but its weight is only 5 kg. This child always felt fever and cough. Finally, it could not even stand. When it was brought to the hospital, the doctor said that the child has been suffering from malnutrition.

The child’s mother Salma Begum is a teenager. She said my daughter is always sick. Now it can’t even stand. The doctor said that it was born with malnutrition.

“Poverty, ignorance of the mother, and child marriage are the main reason for malnutrition child”, said the doctors and nutrition experts of Debhata hospital.

Salma, a thin-skinned teenager, also said, “I myself feel very weak. I see darkness in my eyes. Sometimes the head is about to fall off”, Doctor told me to treat malnutrition.
Another malnourished child was admitted to Debhata Upazila Health Complex at the same time. The patient admission data of the hospital says that at least 3 to 4 malnourished children are admitted to this hospital every month.

More than 40 percent of the children who come to the upazila’s community clinics for treatments are found to be malnourished. Poverty, ignorance, and child marriage of their mother are the main reason for this, said doctors and nutrition experts of the hospital.

It is found in different neighborhoods of Satkhira district that Most of the first-time mothers here are between 13 and 16 years old. The patient information of Jeliapara Community Clinic in Parulia Union of Debhata Upazila shows that 1000 to 1200 patients take treatment here every month. Among them, 60 percents are mothers ‍, and more than 50.

A survey in 2021 by the United Nations Emergency Children’s Fund-UNICEF revealed that 77.7 percent of the total marriages in Satkhira are child marriages. And the district education office says that 540 school students have had child marriages here only during the Corona period. During this period, 12 percent of the school-going girls in the district left their education life. These marriages of immature age and their children are suffering from various health problems, the victimized women say.

A mother named Geeta Rani gave birth to a son before she turned 18. Now the boy is disabled. My child was very weak from birth. It had pneumonia. It could not suck milk. Finally, one morning, while taking a shower, I saw that it was dull. When it was taken to the medical center, the doctor said it was due to malnutrition. Since then it is disabled, told Geeta Rani to this correspondent.

But after knowing why so many child marriages are taking place in this area, the locals said that there are various health risks for women due to extreme poverty, social degradation, and climate change.

“Due to the salt in our water, the uterine tubes of girls become sore at a very young age. Many people lose their ability to conceive due to uterine problems. Because of this, it becomes difficult to get someone married if they hear that someone has uterine problems. Because of this fear, parents give married when they are young”, said a woman named Akalima.

A union Parishad member (local govt representative) Ward No.-4 of Debhata Union said the economic condition of people in our area is very bad due to every year disasters, storms and floods, and salinity. The crops of this area are destroyed and people are being in debt. In this situation, everyone thinks it is risky to keep the girl at home. Moreover, there is a lot of degradation in the area. Therefore, girls are more vulnerable because young people are becoming drug addicts. So child marriages are being happened secretly. Most marriages are done in court.

Abdul matin, chairman of Debhata Union Parishad, said that poverty, salinity, and social prejudices are the main reason for child marriage. If we are able to stop early age marriage, we will get good healthy children.

Debhata Upazila Health and Family Planning Officer Dr. Md. Abdul Latif said “This is a disaster-prone area. A couple of storms hit here a year. Then it becomes difficult to take care of the child in various crises. As a result, children become malnourished”.

He also said that usually storms cause damage to crops. There is a shortage of nutritious fruits, including milk and eggs. Moreover, the people of the coastal areas suffer economically and cannot afford to eat nutritious food. Mother and child suffer a nutritional crisis. Moreover, women face various problems due to salt water.

He also said that many women here are losing their ability to have children due to uterine problems.

Debhata Upazila Executive officer B. M. Khalid Hussain Siddiqui told oceantimesbd.com that the reasons for excessive child marriage here are happing due to extreme poverty and social degradation. There is also a sense of social unconsciousness.

He also said that almost 90 percent of women in the Upazila are suffering from various urine infections due to salty water.

A consortium of several local development aid organizations, including Save the Children, an international organization for children, is working on the right of children to grow up healthy in backward areas.

They are also running a project called ‘Right to Grow Project’ in the coastal districts of Satkhira, Khulna, Patuakhali, and Barguna which are lagging behind due to climate change. This project is basically doing advocacy at the local government and national level to ensure child nutrition.

Tawfiqul Islam, project manager and official of Save the Children in Bangladesh said that climate change is creating a crisis in the economy, food production, sanitation, and health and nutrition system here. The people of this region fall behind compared to the main plains. As a result, the nutritional system of the coast is disrupted.

In order to integrate these backward communities with the mainstream, additional allocations must be made to cover climate damage here. If not, they will retreat from the plain land.

He also said that children are the future wealth of the country. But if they grow up weak from childhood, then the state has to bear the burden in the end. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure growing properly during childhood. It is the responsibility of our state to strengthen them. So we are advocating at the local government and national level to ensure that backward children grow up properly. We are trying to make everyone aware and sincere to ensure the proper growth of the children in this area.

In particular, nutritional allocation needs to be added along with health allocation. We are doing advocacy with the government on this issue. The government will be advised by the NGOs to give separate allocations to the Union Parishad to ensure children’s nutrition, he added.