Bright ideas in Bangladesh
Wednesday, 10 June 2009 11:15
What does a solar panel have in common with a jujube tree? Not much – except they're both helping to conserve energy at Bangladesh church hospitals. James Pender reports.
How is climate change affecting Bangladesh?
In the hotter and drier districts where these hospitals are situated malaria, cholera, diarrhoea and heat stroke are expected to increase as the summers become hotter and wetter. As the winters become dryer, the sand-loving ticks that spread Black Fever (or Leismaniasis) and malnutrition, due to droughts destroying harvests are expected to increase.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that climate change since the 1970s is already responsible for over 150,000 deaths each year through increasing incidence of diarrhoea, malaria and malnutrition, predominantly in developing regions.
Tragically, those least responsible for climate change are those who will be hit the hardest, such as the poorest of the poor in Bangladesh; in fact the country has one of the lowest per head rates of greenhouse gas emissions in the world.
The Church of Bangladesh has been committed to lifting the poor out of poverty for many years and it has sought to do this in pioneering ways. Thus when it founded hospitals at Bhollobhpur and Rajshahi around 100 years ago they were the first such institutions in the Meherpur and Kushtia Districts.
The Church of Bangladesh continues to be pioneering with a new focus on climate change. But health and environmental concerns merge when it becomes obvious that global warming will have a serious impact on health in the west of Bangladesh.
The health of communities depends on sufficient food, safe drinking water, comfortable homes, good social conditions, and a suitable environmental and social setting for controlling infectious diseases. All of these factors can be affected by climate.
The directors of both these Church of Bangladesh hospitals have sought to take courageous and visionary actions that not only tackle climate change but also increase the sustainability of the hospitals too – showing that action on climate change can also benefit financially!
Sister Gillian Rose at Bhollobhpur Hospital has now installed six solar panels on the roofs of the wards and nursing quarters in an area with an unreliable mains electricity supply. The panels charge well even in cloudy weather and save the use of the generator, hurricane lamps and candles.
They are reducing the use of climate-damaging fossil fuels as well as providing reliable electricity. They can power 10 bulbs each night, making it much easier for nurses – especially as this institution specialises in maternity care. Sister Rose was also very excited to discover that in only six months they had saved more than £300 on kerosene for the generator!
Meanwhile a little further north in Rajshahi Hospital Dr Andrew Roy has sought to make the most of his marshy hospital grounds which are usually a breeding ground for mosquitos, by planting it with trees.
These trees absorb carbon dioxide – an important greenhouse gas – and as he has chosen fruit trees intercropped with vegetables the produce will provide a source of £500 income for the hospital each year!
Being climate aware, he has chosen two kinds of drought-tolerant tree – the Guava and the Jujube – of which 100 of each have been planted. He is now also seeking permission from the Hospital Board of Trustees for funding to plant 400 mahogany trees on another area of unused land at the hospital. These trees would absorb more carbon dioxide and also prove a good timber investment 20 years down the line with a potential up to £80,000 once harvested."
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
Feed me!