A few weeks ago, we reported on some of the effects of the lock-down in Bangladesh. Millions of informal workers have lost their source of income, which could quickly become a widespread food crisis. Thanks to the support of our donors, and on the help we received through our online campaign, we have been able to start distributing emergence food supplies to the most vulnerable families in our working areas. We would like to thank everyone for their support. Please get in touch if you are interested in contributing.

“I don’t understand Corona, and I don’t want want to know about it. I want work. If I can’t work, I only understand that I will not have food.“

I am a Rickshaw driver. What I used to earn at the end of the day was my only income. I don’t have any land or any other income. From the beginning of April, I could not go to road with my Rickshaw which was my only income to feed my wife and children including my old mother. First few days, I used to go to road, but due to restriction of movement of people for Corona, my income was less, but still I could manage food for my family. But from second week of April, I am sitting at home, I don’t have income. My days are getting harder. I am worried, tomorrow what I will do, who will give me food, what I will do for my children and my old mother. Five days back, I became desperate and went to road with my Rickshaw. Police stopped me and asked me why I had gone out on the road in lockdown in the area. They broke my Rickshaw, the only means of income I had. I don’t see any hope. I heard that Government will give some food, but I don’t think that that will reach up to me.
I am uneducated, I don’t know anything what is happening and what will happen with Corona. I only know that I don’t have any food, I don’t have earning at the end of the day. I am hopeless. I don’t understand Corona, and I don’t want want to know about it. I want work. If I can’t work, I only understand that I will not have food. Do you want to give us food?

Summary from interview with Mr Sohag, rickshaw driver in Munshiganj, 08/04/2020

If you want to help, please go to our online fundraising campaign for this food crisis.

A new study suggest that community wells in Araihazar, and probably elsewhere in Bangladesh, were not optimally allocated by the government because of elite capture. As a proxy for water access, distance calculations show that 29% of shallow wells with >50 μg/L arsenic are located within walking distance (100 m) of at least one of the 915 intermediate or deep wells. Similar calculations for a hypothetical more even distribution of deep wells show that 74% of shallow wells with >50 μg/L arsenic could have been located within 100 m of the same number of deep wells.

van Geen, A., Ahmed, K. M., Ahmed, E. B., Choudhury, I., Mozumder, M. R., Bostick, B. C., & Mailloux, B. J. (2015). Inequitable allocation of deep community wells for reducing arsenic exposure in bangladesh. Journal of Water Sanitation and Hygiene for Development.

We were part of a consultation which led to a recently released Human Rights Watch report saying “the Bangladesh government is failing to adequately respond to naturally occurring arsenic in drinking water across large areas of rural Bangladesh… Approximately 20 years after initially coming to international attention, an estimated 20 million people in Bangladesh – mostly rural poor – still drink water contaminated over the national standard.” The HRW report can be downloaded here. Please see our earlier post for more information on how we would frame the arsenic problem in terms of social justice and human rights.

We have seen many  cases where existing water supplies are not up to standards due to a lack of maintenance. One major issue has been the bad state of the platform around the hand pump, which makes water use less accessible and increases the risk of bacterial infection. Last year, rather than only focusing on installing new water supplies, we also assisted communities with “fixing” these failed projects. From 04/2014 to 03/2015, we constructed and rehabilitated 34 tube-well platforms in Sreenagar and Louhajong upzilas, Over 2000 people are using these water supplies on a daily basis. (You can find our report here.)

During the last financial year (04/2014-03/2015), we have worked with communities to install fourteen new deep tube-wells in four different unions in Sreenagar and Lohajong upazillas. More than 1700 people have gained access to safe water from those tube-wells. The procedure is based in a participatory process briefly described in this report.

Arsenic contamination of groundwater in Bangladesh poses a major environmental health hazard to millions. The efforts of public health programmes to address the problem have often been short-lived and unevenly distrib- uted. The crisis represents a failure of governance and a structural injustice of global dimensions. Rights-based approaches to development have been proposed to address such problems. This paper explores the implications of framing the arsenic problem in terms of social justice and human rights. Continue reading →

A documentary was recently produced by Nine Lives Media for a Channel 4 Dispatch. It features our Director and clinic in Munshiganj. The topic: Europe is eating more rice than ever before, from ready meals to breakfast cereals, but some leading scientists and experts warn that certain types of commonly consumed rice contain a worrying level of naturally occurring arsenic. The video is streaming in the UK (or through a VPN service) here. We will provide an update as soon it is available through other channels. Continue reading →