Environmental, health and economic conditions perceived by 50 rural communities in Bangladesh.
For randomly selected 50 villages in Bangladesh, an interview survey with a structured questionnaire was conducted to reveal their perception on the environmental, health and economic conditions at present and for the past 10-year change. The eight following items were analyzed in this paper: air pollution and water pollution, which represent environmental conditions with close relation to health conditions, soil degradation and deforestation, which represent environmental conditions with close relation to economic conditions, epidemic diseases and malnutrition, which represent health conditions, and poverty and jobless, which represent economic conditions. Among the 50 villages, deforestation was most frequently perceived serious at present and worsened in the past 10 years. Of the remaining seven items, those related to economic conditions were more seriously perceived than those related to health and environmental conditions. As revealed by the cluster analysis for the inter-item relations, epidemic diseases, which formed the same cluster with the environmental items, were recognized less serious whereas malnutrition, which formed the same cluster with the economic items, was recognized more serious. These findings are useful not only for rural development programs but also for mitigation programs toward health and environmental hazards in Bangladesh.
Ohtsuka
Ryutaro
R
Department of Human Ecology, School of International Health, University of Tokyo, Hongo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan. rohtsuka@humeco.m.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Inaoka
Tsukasa
T
Moji
Kazuhiko
K
Karim
Enamul
E
Yoshinaga
Mari
M
D001459:Bangladesh; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000191:economics; D003906:Developing Countries / Q000191:economics*; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000191:economics*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D011203:Poverty / Q000191:economics*; D011320:Primary Health Care; D012424:Rural Population