As a result of climate change, the women of Shyamnagar in the coastal district of Satkhira have to constantly fight with nature to survive. Their lifestyle is changing. Women and girls here wash and reuse the same clothes during menstruation. They also do daily work including bathing in saline water. The presence of uterine diseases in them is very high.
A Suffering woman, Ambia Banu said that her husband has abused her since her hysterectomy. Her husband doesn’t take good care of her and doesn’t even look after her. Because of this, he remarried and started a family again. After she had a daughter, she was diagnosed with a disease and lost her uterus, she said.
Another suffering woman Jamila Begum also explained her condition as she has two children. One child was born when the eldest one was seven years old. After the birth of the second girl child, a tumour was diagnosed in her uterus, she said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says that a person’s daily salt intake should be 5 grams. But the women of this area have to accept more than 16 grams. As a result, many women are cutting the uterus. Nazma Begum, a local resident, mentioned that they have a lot of diseases here in the salt water. If there is a problem with the uterus, it is cut out. On this note, a suffering woman talked about this condition with her experience thus, the doctors told her that she had to have an operation. They also said that she was vomiting, there was no option but to have an operation. So she went to the clinic and had an operation as per the doctor’s advice.
As a result of consuming saline water, women have high blood pressure, pregnancy convulsions, abortion and even premature birth rate. About 80 percent of women in this area are suffering from various problems including the uterus. Heleana Bilkis, the Chief Health Care Provider (C.H.C.P) of the Dumuria Community Clinic said that the usage of saline water is causing infection of the uterus of women. If one looks here it will be found that 80% of women are suffering from leukorrhea. Suffering patients are seriously affected by leukorrhea infection. Their uterus is more vulnerable due to prolonged exposure. Some are going to the stage of operation. They are getting a miserable life. Husbands don’t want to continue marital relation. Most of the women come to them with such problems, he said.
Environmental Experts suggest taking up big projects in the health sector of the region besides keeping the flow of water right along with shrimp farming in an environmentally friendly manner. In this regard, Professor Md. Redowanur Rahman of Environmental Science Institute, University of Rajshahi suggested that the flow of water should be kept correct. The water coming to the coast from above, if there is an upward flow, the salinity will go down. As a result, the salinity will come down from the deep to the low. Then no one will be affected further by any uterine disease, he added.
He also said that for shrimp farming as well as for exporting it abroad, White Gold as generally called it, has drawn up the sea water. As a result we have polluted the water in rivers, ponds and salted it. There is no remedial action outside of government projects for the overall benefit. And by taking on a big project, the government should implement it with international recognition, he added.
Public health experts and environmentalists believe that it is necessary to formulate and implement a long-term plan of the government to deal with long-term risks, to increase the capacity of women in the region, to improve the quality of healthy life, and to deal with long-term risks.
By G M Mourtoza, [email protected]
Head of News and Multimedia, Radio Padma 99.2FM and PadmaNews24.Com
