IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i19p3746-d273557.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Health Implications of Drinking Water Salinity in Coastal Areas of Bangladesh

Author

Listed:
  • Rishika Chakraborty

    (Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Indiana University Bloomington, IN 47405, USA)

  • Khalid M. Khan

    (Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Indiana University Bloomington, IN 47405, USA)

  • Daniel T. Dibaba

    (Tennessee Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, 38105, USA)

  • Md Alfazal Khan

    (Matlab Health Research Centre, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh)

  • Ali Ahmed

    (International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh)

  • Mohammad Zahirul Islam

    (International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh)

Abstract

Coastal areas in South Asian countries are particularly vulnerable to elevated water salinity. Drinking water salinity has been found to be associated with cardiovascular diseases (CVD), diarrhea, and abdominal pain. Our study aimed to find if excess drinking water salinity was associated with increased hospital visits with an array of health effects in coastal sub-districts of Bangladesh. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 157 participants from three coastal sub-districts. A face-to-face interview was conducted to collect salinity exposure and hospital visit data. Water samples were collected from both drinking and other household water sources for the measurement of salinity and total dissolved solids (TDS). CVD, diarrhea, and abdominal pain related hospital visits were found to be significantly associated with high water salinity and TDS. Households exposed to high salinity demonstrated a higher frequency of hospital visits than the low salinity-exposed households. People exposed to high salinity seemed to lack awareness regarding salinity-inducing health effects. Water salinity is a public health concern that will continue to rise due to climate change. Therefore, raising awareness about the health risks of water salinity is essential for the government to frame policies and mitigation strategies to control this emerging threat.

Suggested Citation

  • Rishika Chakraborty & Khalid M. Khan & Daniel T. Dibaba & Md Alfazal Khan & Ali Ahmed & Mohammad Zahirul Islam, 2019. "Health Implications of Drinking Water Salinity in Coastal Areas of Bangladesh," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-10, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:19:p:3746-:d:273557
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/19/3746/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/19/3746/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Susmita Dasgupta & Mainul Huq & David Wheeler, 2016. "Drinking Water Salinity and Infant Mortality in Coastal Bangladesh," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 2(01), pages 1-21, March.
    2. Mohammad A. Hoque & Adrian P. Butler, 2015. "Medical Hydrogeology of Asian Deltas: Status of Groundwater Toxicants and Nutrients, and Implications for Human Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-20, December.
    3. M. A. Hoque & P. F. D. Scheelbeek & P. Vineis & A. E. Khan & K. M. Ahmed & A. P. Butler, 2016. "Drinking water vulnerability to climate change and alternatives for adaptation in coastal South and South East Asia," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 247-263, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Josep Lloret & Rafael Abós-Herràndiz & Sílvia Alemany & Rosario Allué & Joan Bartra & Maria Basagaña & Elisa Berdalet & Mònica Campàs & Arnau Carreño & Montserrat Demestre & Jorge Diogène & Eva Fontde, 2020. "The Roses Ocean and Human Health Chair: A New Way to Engage the Public in Oceans and Human Health Challenges," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(14), pages 1-19, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Apurva Pamidimukkala & Sharareh Kermanshachi & Nikhitha Adepu & Elnaz Safapour, 2021. "Resilience in Water Infrastructures: A Review of Challenges and Adoption Strategies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-15, November.
    2. Susmita Dasgupta & Md. Moqbul Hossain & Mainul Huq & David Wheeler, 2015. "Climate Change, Soil Salinity and Road Maintenance Costs in Coastal Bangladesh," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 1(03), pages 1-21.
    3. Mehdi Hafezi & Oz Sahin & Rodney A. Stewart & Brendan Mackey, 2018. "Creating a Novel Multi-Layered Integrative Climate Change Adaptation Planning Approach Using a Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-30, November.
    4. Mohammod Akbar Kabir & Md. Moniruzzaman & Kawsar Jahan & Md. Shahjahan, 2019. "Cost-benefit Analysis of Seedling Production on Floating Beds in a Few Selected Areas of Bangladesh," Journal of Agricultural Studies, Macrothink Institute, vol. 7(2), pages 75-86, June.
    5. Abu Mohd Naser & Thomas F. Clasen & Stephen P. Luby & Mahbubur Rahman & Leanne Unicomb & Kazi M. Ahmed & Solaiman Doza & Shadassa Ourshalimian & Howard H. Chang & Jennifer D. Stowell & K. M. Venkat Na, 2019. "Groundwater Chemistry and Blood Pressure: A Cross-Sectional Study in Bangladesh," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-14, June.
    6. Guimbeau, Amanda & Ji, Xinde & Menon, Nidhiya & Long, Zi, 2022. "An Extra Grain of Salt: The Effect of Salinity Exposure on Early Life Health Outcomes in Coastal Bangladesh," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322076, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:19:p:3746-:d:273557. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.