People suffering from cold-related diseases during winter months are not a new phenomenon in Bangladesh, but it is the intensity and changing patterns of winter diseases due to climate change and extreme pollution which has triggered a huge concern.
According to many doctors and health experts, number of patients with cold-related diseases has increased three folds than normal period. Health authorities concern do not have exact statistics in this regard. Most patients are suffering from cough, sore throat, Pneumonia, diarrhea, respiratory tract inflammation complications, fever and viral diarrhea. Children and the elderly are the most affected. And incidence of diseases is higher outside Dhaka as some 18 districts are grappling withmedium to extreme cold waves.
The point, however, winter itself is not only responsible for all these ailments, but now children and elderly are also being affected by severe air pollution. Growing number of children under two years of age are reportedly being affected by Pneumonia and Bronchiolitis. And Asthma patients are at high risk of experiencing worse bouts in this winter.
We are mainly concerned because the intensifying cold weather has triggered an unexpected surge in Pneumonia among our children besides other winter diseases. In order to prevent untimely death and critical situations, we advise all parents to take extra caution if any child shows symptoms of cough, cold, high fever and breathing problems.
Lest we forget, delayed hospital admission is the main reason behind deaths of our child patients. And Pneumonia is still the main cause of death of children aged less than 5 years in Bangladesh. On average some 12,000 children under 5 years of age die from Pneumonia every year.
Most important, it is crucial for the government to have an approximate estimation of how many people are affected due to cold-related diseases and therefore, aim towards implementing a long term strategy. If not all among the poor, every year we should aim to equip at least a selective group of unaided sufferers to deal with extreme weather conditions on a regular basis. That said -need of the minute demands to find the relationship between mortality and the drift of winter temperatures and thus, determine the spatiotemporal variability and demographic dynamics of cold-related mortality in Bangladesh.
However, we would advise all to strictly follow basic health guidelines, such as wearing face masks in outdoors, drink lukewarm water, wash hands on regular intervals, avoid close contact with sick patients, consume enough seasonal vegetables and fruits and maintain a regular exercise routine.
In conclusion, apart from taking preventive measures, both social and mainstream media can play an important role, in terms of launching health awareness campaigns so to aid the masses to combat winter diseases.
