There are many areas of the northern region of Bangladesh situated on the bank of the River. In both sides of the there exist a lot of char areas. The people of the area is extremely vulnerable as the area is flood prone. Every year the areas of are heated by the flood and making the people lives more hazardous and insecure as well as adding more miseries. Again, the monga (extreme poverty) is the common phenomenon of the area and facing the situation with their poor income level and passing the days without any food having no alternative.
Every year during the monsoon months (August and September) a particularly difficult period for the people of these char areas. The data gathered by the non government organizations demonstrated that during these months the households of the area about 13 times more likely to affect by disaster like flood. The floods and river erosion disrupt the lives of the char dwellers. Floods damage and destroy crops, homes, water and sanitation facilities and other assets and hinder access to food, medical care , schools facilities and work. The victims of erosion loose their settlements, agricultural land and employment, and are forced to move elsewhere, sometimes on a yearly basis. Again, about one half (44%) of char households lost livestock, 16% lost livestock and 10% lose land during the Monsoon months.
These disasters and crises have substantial economic costs which mean that households often face difficulties in paying for basic essentials including food and health care. Households are sometimes forced to take a loan to buy food and this indicate a clear sign that they food insecure.
Poor households tend to spend most of their meager food budget on cheap staples such as rice. Animal products like egg, fish, chicken and meat are better sources of micronutrients than these staples but are also much more expensive. Collected information also demonstrated that the young children consumed animal foods less frequently in the chars than in rural Bangladesh.
Sanitation in the chars is also poor . Only 11 % of households had a closed latrine compared with 29 % in rural Bangladesh. This data actually revealed the cause for why the prevalence of diarrhea in both children (12.2%) and mothers (1.8%) was higher in the chars than in rural Bangladesh.
The people living the in char areas have no access to services from government and development actors. For example, the low coverage of the measles immunization (45% in the chars vs 84 % in rural Bangladesh) and outreach activities of Family Welfare Assistants (only 42% of the char households were visited during the previous 6 months vs 70% in rural Bangladesh) indicates that the performance of immunization and health extension services in the chars is poorer than on the mainland. This is partly because government programs suited to the unique needs of the people in the chars are yet to be devised and implemented.
Despite poor living conditions, households continue to live in the chars because they simply have no alternative. Moving the char dwellers to safer areas is not feasible because land is so scarce in Bangladesh and is becoming increasingly so with the rising population. And experience has shown that attempts to prevent erosion and flooding through structural measures requires constant and costly maintenance that is often not sustainable. Interventions should therefore aim to support the livelihoods of char people so that they can make best use of their available resources and cope better with the hazardous environment.
There are few opportunities for employment in char areas and most people make a living from growing crops, raising cattle and harvesting fish. Land is the most important resource in the chars, but poor households lack the support they need to utilize it fully, including technical advice and training, agricultural supplies and market access.
However, there is great potential to improve household food security, nutritional status and livelihoods in the chars through household food production.
Solutions of these problems require approaches that help poor households make the best use of resources and cope better with the difficult environment.
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