Silent Victims of Salinity: Reproductive Health Risks Among Coastal Women

Bangladesh’s southern coastal belt stands as a symbol of unending struggle—where saltwater, cyclones, floods, and poverty intertwine to shape everyday life. Here, women are not only battling the forces of nature but also enduring the silent damage these changes inflict on their bodies and reproductive health. As rising sea levels push saline water deeper into habitable and agricultural lands, this “saline invasion” has quietly become a public health crisis, particularly for women.

In many coastal villages, access to safe drinking water remains a daily challenge. The increasing salinity in household water supplies has led to a growing number of reproductive health complications among women, ranging from infections and skin diseases to hypertension. During menstruation, the lack of privacy and hygienic facilities forces many women and girls to rely on unsafe materials, heightening their risk of infection and causing severe physical and emotional discomfort.

The crisis is compounded by deep-rooted social and cultural barriers. In many families, menstruation is still treated as a taboo subject, preventing women from seeking essential information, sanitary products, or medical support. Economic hardship further limits access—many cannot afford basic sanitary pads. During floods and cyclones, conditions become even more desperate; most shelters lack gender-sensitive sanitation facilities or private spaces for women.

Research conducted by the Institute of Water and Flood Management (IWFM) of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and the Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS) paints a stark picture. Their findings show that sea levels along Bangladesh’s coast are rising faster than global averages. As a result, 8 to 15 percent of land across four coastal districts may soon be inundated, while salinity is projected to spread further inland—posing severe threats to local ecosystems, agriculture, groundwater, and infrastructure. The IWFM report warns that this trend is becoming irreversible, jeopardising food security and public health in the years ahead.

Government and non-governmental initiatives, such as maternal health vouchers, mobile clinics, and awareness programmes, are positive but insufficient in scale. Real progress will require integrating reproductive health services into climate adaptation policies and engaging local female leaders and faith-based influencers to challenge long-standing stigmas.

Coastal women are not merely passive victims of climate change; they are frontline defenders of survival and resilience. Recognising their voices, leadership, and lived experiences is essential to addressing this intersectional crisis. It is time to make reproductive health in climate-affected coastal areas a national priority—before the silent suffering turns irreversible.

Sources:

1.      Frontiers in Climate – “Another Burden to Bear: Climate Change and Reproductive Health Rights in Bangladesh.”

2.      University of Memphis – “Socioeconomic Factors Affecting Reproductive Behavior among Bangladeshi Women.”

3.      Prothom Alo – “Rising Sea Levels Threaten Coastal Bangladesh.”