Adaptive measures for consideration by the health sector

• The elderly, children, and individuals with underlying health conditions are more vulnerable than others to the health risks associated with ambient air pollution. • There is a direct association between exposure to ambient air pollution and impact on human health.

To mitigate the impacts of air pollution, the Department of environment’s Air Pollution reduction Strategy for Bangladesh 2012 stipulates specific measures to reduce emission levels, promote the use of improved technologies to improve air quality, and establish institutional reforms for coordination and governance. In 2019, Bangladesh drafted the Clean Air Bill, which will help prepare the national Air Quality Management Plan and identify critical air quality areas (heI 2020). More recently, in September 2021, the government of Bangladesh released the Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan Decade 2030, which shifts the discourse on climate change from “vulnerability to resilience to prosperity” for the country. Priority areas and points emphasized by the plan are (1) accelerating adaptation to the effects of climate change; (2) transitioning labor and future-proofing industry with technology transfer; (3) increasing public revenue to spend on the most vulnerable members of the population; (4) establishing comprehensive climate and disaster risk financing and management; (5) leveraging twenty-first century technologies for human well-being; and (6) maximizing renewable energy, energy efficiency, and power and transportation sector resilience.

With air pollution levels anticipated to worsen over time in Bangladesh, driven by climate change as well as factors such urbanization and industrialization, there is an urgent need for the health sector to be better prepared to deal with the impending crisis. It is expected that the report will assist practitioners and subject matter experts in policy dialogue under the overall framework of the government’s Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan Decade 2030.

While measures to reduce the impact of climate change would contribute to tackling air pollution, the following summarized recommendations are linked to the findings presented in this report and are not aimed at managing air pollution in general.

The following may be undertaken under the leadership of the Ministry of health and Family Welfare, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, including the local government.

Recommendation 1: Improve health service delivery to deal with the health effects of air pollution, with a focus on vulnerable groups such as the elderly and children. Curative care, particularly delivered through public health platforms, needs to be further strengthened to treat the health problems brought on by air pollution. Doing this would help ease the additional and incremental burden of health expenditure on the population. The following measures can be implemented as a part of the efforts to strengthen the health care delivery system:

• Increase awareness of and sensitivity of health care professionals to the health risks associated with exposure to ambient air pollution.