Multidisciplinary household environmental factors: Influence on DALYs lost in climate refugees community

Abstract

There is no particular agreement on a specified definition of climate refugees. However, slum areas in Dhaka are becoming crowded day by day, especially after the recent flood and cyclone disasters. The poorest of the poor are displaced every year in Bangladesh and particularly in Dhaka, which is currently a hub of more than 10 million inhabitants and growing at rapid speed. Keeping in view this problem statement, we compared and assessed different Dhaka communities for Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) lost due to diarrhea and asthma among children 5 years of age. To support the research findings, the data for these two diseases were collected using different instruments such as E.coli, pH, turbidity, and ORP for water quality, whereas CO, NO2, and dust particle tests were made for air quality monitoring in the climate refugee and non-climate refugee communities. The results showed that there is great difference between DALYs lost among children belonging to the climate refugee group and those of the non-climate refugee group. Moreover, among 3 sub-categorized communities of climate refugees, Lalbagh (CRL) was the most vulnerable, showing DALYs loss of 85 and 70% for diarrhea and asthma, respectively. The non-climate refugee community showed reasonably less loss. Influencing factors, such as urban services, maternal illiteracy, ventilation and hygiene behaviors, strongly attenuated DALYs. Policy makers are recommended to set up priority for climate refugees in terms of deterioration and the significance of their health due to forced migration (climate change induced effect). © 2013 Elsevier B.V.