Date: 13th – 14th May 2000
Venue: Dhaka Community Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Organized by Dhaka Community Hospital
Supported by UNICEF
Programme Schedule
13th
May
8:30 – 9:00 AM REGISTRATION
9:00 – 10:30 AM INAUGURAL SESSION
Address
of Welcome and Outline of the Conference:
Professor Mahmuder Rahman
Arsenicosis Patient's Point of View
Ms Momtaz Begum
Addresses by Special Guests:
Mr Mahfuz Anam, Editor "The Daily Star"
Ms Sahida Azfar, UNICEF representative
Mr Fred Temple Country Director World Bank
Mr Dadiur Rahamn, Secretary LGD
Mr Alamgirr Farook Chowdhury, Secretary Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Presentation by Chairman
Professor Quazi Quamruzzaman
10:30 – 11:00 AM REFRESHMENT
11:00 – 12:00 PM INTEGRATED ARSENIC MITIGATION & ALTERNATIVE
WATER OPTION PROGRAM
Chairman Dr AM Zakir Hossain
Co-Chairman Mr Colin Davis
Arsenic Mitigation - an integrated approach
Ranajit Das DCH
Alternative safe water options - community acceptance and
acceptability Ranajit Das DCH
Grameen Bank - Arsenic Mitigation Program - Zakir Hossain
Can Bangladesh cope with arsenicosis Professor
QQ Zaman
12.00 - 1.00 PM (continued)
Chairman Professor Ainun Nishat
Co Chairman Mr Shafiqul Islam
Potential
for Rainwater Harvesting in Bangladesh Professor Firoz Ahmed,
BUET
Are Dug wells good options for the community? Dr S. Roy, DCH
Pitcher Filter - a study J.Y. Bidyut DCH
Introduction of Action Research on Mitigation in 5 Thana Eng.
S.M. Ihtishamul Huq, DPHE
1:00 – 2.00 PM LUNCH
2:00 – 3:00 PM continued
Chairman Prof. Firoz Ahmed
Co-Chairman Dr Yasmin Ali Haque
Surface
water utilization and environmental problems Prof Ainun Nishat
IUCN
Safe water option - our experience, Mizanur Rahman BRAC
Rainwater Harvesting: new technique throughout the year, Ranajit
Das DCH
Coordination and Community participation in Arsenic Mitigation
- Bera Thana Experience A.L.Shohel, DCH
3.00 PM - 4.00 PM LAB, TEST, FIELD KIT, ARSENIC
TRAINING
Chairman Professor Imamul Haque
Co-chairman
Han Heijnen
Concerns
regarding elevated arsenic concentration in irrigation water
Prof. W.R. Chappell, U of Colorado USA
Social Impact of Arsenicosis Jinnat Naher Jitu PCC
Current status of Prevalence of arsenicosis and contamination of ground
water in bangladesh - 1999
Professor Salamatullah INFS
Lessons Learned in the management of logistic support - 64 district survey
and RAP 500 village survey
W.H.Tappan DCH
4.00 - 4.15 TEA BREAK
4.15 -5.15 PM continued
Chairman Prof W.R. Chappell
Co-Chairman Babor N. Kabir
Ground water contamination in Bangladesh Prof Dipankar Chakraborty,
SOES India
All field kits for arsenic test Jesmin Khatun, DCH
Determination of arsenic in laboratory and development of
arsenic laboratory in DCH Md. Mahmudur Rahman DCH
Arsenic training DCH experience Dr Mahmuda Hasan DCH
5:00 – 5:30 PM REFRESHMENTS
7 PM RECEPTION AT SQUARE CENTER For overseas participants
HOST: SQUARE PHARMACEUTICALS LTD.
14TH May
9:00 – 11:00 AM PATIENTS IDENTIFICATION & MANAGEMENT, NUTRITION
& SOCIAL IMPACT
8:30-9:30 AMChairman,
Dr. Dipankor Chakraborti
Co-Chairman, I Kayode Oyegbite
Combating arsenic crisis - BRAC experience,
Mushtaque Chowdhury, BRAC
Arsenic toxicity - Alden Henderson, CDC
Gender implications of arsenicosis, Sultanul Alam
The anticipated dose response and risk for arsenic related
lesions, Prof. Richard Wilson, Harvard
9:30 - 10:30 AMChairman,
Dr. Werner Schultink
Co-Chairman,
Mushtaque Chowdhury
Experience of a
field medical officer, Dr. S.K. Palit, DCH
Field management
of patient and follow up, Dr. Ashim K. Choudhury, DCH
Field level screening of arsenic
affected patients, Dr. Z.I. Zico, DCH
Management of patients
in Dhaka Community Hospital and follow up, Dr. Shibtosh Roy,
DCH
10:30 - 11:00 AMTEA BREAK
11:00 - NoonChairman, Prof.
Mahmuder Rahman
Co-Chairman,
Dr.
Julian Spalholz
Management of arsenicosis and role of nutrition,
Prof. Q.Q.Zaman, DCH
Some possible recommendations and measurements to prevent arsenicosis,
Dr. Aminul Hassan, DGHS
Arsenicosis - a case study, Dr. B.A. Badal, DCH
Arsenic contamination in ground water and its effect
on human health with particular reference to Bangladesh, Prof. Wadud
Khan, NIPSOM
12:00 - 1:00 PM Chairman, Prof. Richard Wilson
Co-Chairman, Eng. Farid Uddin
Ahmed
The need for high quality assurance in data, Shafi Azam Ahmed, WB
Arsenic contamination of soils in Australia, Bangladesh, and West Bengal, India: Current and Future activities by the Australian team, Dr. Ravi Naidu, Australia
Nutritional aspects of arsenic, Br. Barbara Bowman, CDC
Chronic arsenic exposure and state of liver function, G. Mahiyuddin, DCH
1:00 - 2:00 PMLUNCH BREAK
2:00 - 3:00 PMINFORMATION, DISSEMINATION, DOCUMENTATION & DATA MANAGEMENT
Chairman,
I
Nasir Uddin
Co-Chairman,
Dr.
Bruce Currey
DCH Data Management, Ranak Mohanta, DCH
Weaknesses
in database management, documentation and dissemination, Ashim
Kumar Chowdhury
Opportunity for DCH to further highlight and mitigate the arsenic problem of Bangladesh, S.I. Shimul, DCH
Threats that DCH foresee with regard to data based management, documentation and dissemination, Dr. Z.I. Zico, DCH
DCH strengths in ventilating the arsenic problems of people in Bangladesh, R Das
3:00 - 4:00 PMGROUP DISCUSSION FOR PREPARATION OF 3RD DHAKA DECLARATION
Chairman, I Mahfuz Anam
Co-Chairman,
Dr. Shibtosh Roy
Video show on Arsenic for other participants - UNICEF
Group Discussant:
I Nasir Uddin, Prof. Richard Wilson, Farid Uddin Ahmed, Prof. M. Rahman, Ms. Shahida Azfar, Dr. Dipankor Chakraborti, Prof. W.R. Chappell, I B.N. Kabir, I Colin Davies, Dr. Ravi Naidu, Prof. Firoz Ahmed, Prof. Ainun Nishat, I Han Heijnen
4.00 – 5:00 PM VALIDICTORY AND CONCLUDING SESSION
Address by One participant
Professor Richard Wilson, USA
Address by an arsenicosis
patient
Mr A.R Khan
Addresses by Special
Guests
Mr Mahfuz Anam, Editor, the Daily Star
Ms Sahida Azfar, UNICEF representative
Mr Fred Temple, Country Director World Bank
Mr Badiur Rhaman Secretary
LGD
Address by Chief Guest Dr Mozamel Hossain State Minister of
Social welfare
Recommendation
of the conference
Dhaka Declaration III Presented by Professor Mahmuder Rahman
Address by
Chairman:
Professor Quazi Quamruzzaman
Vote of Thanks
7 PM DINNER
HOST : DHAKA
COMMUNITY HOSPITAL at SAMARKAND restaurant
Round
Table Conference on Arsenicosis and Nutrition
15th May, 2000
Organized by Dhaka Community Hospital
Programme:
|
|
|
|
|
| 9:00-9:30
AM |
Registration |
|
|
| 9:30-9:45
AM |
Nutrition
related issues for discussion during the day, brainstorming |
|
Chaired
by Prof. M Rahman-DCH |
| 9:45-10:45
AM |
Possible
interventions to counteract arsenic poisoning: based on published experiences;
and Presentation of a research protocol on: the role of Selenium |
|
|
| 10:45-11:00
AM |
TEA
BREAK |
|
|
| 11:00-11:30
AM |
Paper:
Toxicology |
|
|
| 11:30-12:00
PM |
Discussion |
|
|
| 12:00
- 1:00 PM |
Paper:
Nutrition and Epidemiology |
|
|
| 12:30-13:00 |
Discussion |
|
|
| 13:00
- 14:00 |
Lunch
Break |
|
|
| 14:00
- 14:30 |
Presentation
of protocol for patient management |
|
|
| 14:30-16:00 |
Discussion
in conclusion |
|
Chaired
by Prof. M. Rashid-IPHN |
| 16:00 |
End |
|
3rd
International Arsenic Conference
Abstracts
Date:13-14 May, 2000
Venue: Dhaka Community Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Organised:
Dhaka Community Hospital
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Supported:UNICEF
Remarks
by
Shahida
Azfar
Representative,
UNICEF Bangladesh
at
the
Third
International Arsenic Conference
Dhaka,
Bangladesh May 13, 2000
"Arsenic
Mitigation in Bangladesh: The Race Against Time"
check
against delivery
I
Chairman, I Temple, I Anam, distinguished guests, colleagues, ladies and
gentlemen:
It
is a great honour to be here today at the third International Conference
on Arsenic Mitigation, which has brought together partners and experts
from here in Bangladesh and from around the world. It is indeed heartening
to see the continued intense interest in a subject of such importance to
all of us in Bangladesh.
UNICEF
is indeed privileged to be associated with this conference, organized by
Dhaka Community Hospital, which will allow us to share experiences on arsenic
mitigation, work in Bangladesh and elsewhere, to seek expert opinion as
we move forward in this complex and, in many aspects, relatively little
known issue. And to see how we can accelerate the pace and effectiveness
of the ongoing work in mitigation.
I
would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the Professor Chakraborti
of Jadavpur University and of Professor Quamruzzaman and his colleagues
at DCH for their pioneering work on this issue and for their further continued
commitment to the issue of arsenic mitigation in Bangladesh.
UNICEF
is indeed privileged to work with the Government of Bangladesh and our
partner NGOs, namely DCH, BRAC, Grumman Bank and Rotary International,
in close collaboration with the UN System and other development partners
to mitigate the arsenic crisis in Bangladesh, the magnitude and complexity
of which are intimidating.
We
know that the problem is enormous, though we do not know the exact magnitude
yet. Though numbers vary, we do know that there are about four to five
million tubewells in Bangladesh, that 29% of them have arsenic contamination
beyond the permissible level of 50 pp., that at least 24 million people
are potentially at risk from continued drinking of contaminated water,
that 7000 are reported to be suffering from arsenicosis and different diseases
and several deaths are attributed to arsenic.
We
also know that thousands more, if not hundreds of thousands more, will
suffer from arsenicosis and possible death if they continue to drink arsenic
contaminated water.
We
also know that the problem is extremely complex. How complex? Let me give
you just a few examples:
To
begin with, the problem itself is not easily defined: the hydrogeology
of arsenic in the soil of Bangladesh is such that a contaminated well can
be literally a few steps away from an uncontaminated one. A well that is
safe at one testing can be contaminated a few months later. Deep tubewells
were said to be safe in one survey a few months ago, now another one says
that some deep tubewells may not be safe. We do not know how many tubewells
are contaminated because we have not tested them all.
In
the area of health, we do not know why one person shows symptoms of arsenicosis
while another in the same family, drinking the same water, does not. We
do not know the impact of micronutrients and which nutritional supplements
can mitigate the effects of arsenic poisoning, in what doses, conditions,
etc.
How
does mother to child transmission of arsenic contamination occur - if at
all - through breastfeeding? And what are the effects on the foetus itself
?
While
the list of unknowns is endless, we do know one thing for sure, that is
that if people stop drinking arsenic contaminated water, in the early stages,
the symptoms of poisoning can be reversed. This is the most important fact.
People
must be informed and they must stop drinking arsenic contaminated water
now. How do we advance our cause?
We
need to test each and every tubewell now. This is essential as those tubewells
that are safe, with periodic testing can continue to be used.
We
need to accelerate the testing programme. To date, only 250,000 tubewells
have been tested by all programmes. If we keep this up, at this pace it
will take us 30 years to complete the testing.
It
is, as you can see, a very complex issue. And as a result, there are no
simple, "quick-fix" solutions. For example, it has been suggested that
all the tubewells should be closed and people should revert to using surface
water. If the government were to close all the tubewells, the four million
tubewells that are safe would be closed as well. Where would those people
get their drinking water? Even if the contaminated tubewells were closed,
people who can use that water for washing would no longer have proper sanitation
and proper hygiene.
The
use of surface water is being suggested as the answer and UNICEF is supporting
development of pond sand filters and rainwater harvesting, where they are
appropriate. However, we believe that this can only be a partial solution.
Many
of the ponds are heavily polluted with chemicals, pesticides or fecal bacteria
or are used for shrimp or fish farming, which do not lend themselves to
be entirely safe for drinking or to reserved for that purpose.
Some
people have said, "Drink rainwater". We agree - rainwater is an option,
but there is not enough rain all year in all places for that to be feasible
as the main strategy.
We
therefore need a combination of options to suit the community situation.
The UNICEF assisted community based projects in five thanas where is being
implemented by out partner NGOs has demonstrated the efficacy of several
options.
This
partnership developed and implemented an integrated approach, which includes
community mobilization; testing to identify both contaminated and uncontaminated
tubewells, provision of alternative safe water, patient identification
and treatment and training of health workers.
We
also feel strongly that people need to know the threats of arsenic contamination
and that is why the multimedia communication campaign developed and launched
by the Government of Bangladesh in December of 1999, is so vital to this
process. We hope this effort will be taken to scale.
We
and our partners have tested 170,000 tubewells, put 370 water supply options
in place, almost 4,000 household filter units and trained 6,600 health
workers. We are encouraging the development of more effective testing kits,
and testing household filters to ensure that they work. UNICEF assisted
in the first national survey of prevalence to determine the size of the
problem. We are now in the process of scaling up the action research project
this year to include another 15 thanas.
What
we all have learned in this process is that first of all, there is no perfect
solution, no "magic bullet" to the problem of arsenic contamination. Second,
we know that all the wells have to be tested to know where the uncontaminated
wells are located, as well as the contaminated ones. We also have to continue
testing and monitoring wells. And third, we have to tell people to stop
drinking the water from their well if it is contaminated with arsenic.
In
dealing with this issue we all know that there is no time to waste. This
challenge of arsenic mitigation is a race against time: for without a prompt
response from all of us here today, we will find it difficult to effectively
combat arsenic contamination. Over time, without effective action, arsenic
in drinking water could result in thousands of deaths. This silent emergency
must be responded to now with coordinated and concerted action by all of
us here.
At
this conference you will understand that there is still much more to know
and learn, paying due heed to the need to inform, educate and empower local
government and communities to help themselves in a sustainable way. This
must be done in all haste and with no time to lose. All available resources
and skills must be used, with a coordinated and concerted effort - as quickly
as possible.
Allow
me to tell you a story.
Two
years ago near a town called Manikganj, about 70 kilometres from here,
a woman named Monowara Hossan noticed that both she and her seven-year-old
son Chonchal were developing spots on their feet and hands. They went to
the doctor, and he told her that it was probably some kind of skin condition.
The
condition continued and she began to worry for herself, and naturally,
for her son. Then she saw a documentary on television that described the
problems of arsenic contaminated water. About the same time received some
information from an NGO in Manikganj. They immediately recognized the symptoms
of arsenicosis and tested her tubewell. It contained 20 times the permissible
amount of arsenic.
She
and Chonchal began drinking uncontaminated water and following recommended
diet. Their local tubewell was fitted with a sophisticated filter that
eliminates all arsenic. Monowara says she would like to tell the world
that she and her son are healthy because of this programme.
This
is how we all can make a difference.
In
closing, let me point out that time and again the people of Bangladesh
have mobilized whenever there has been a national emergency. In the cyclone
of 1991 and the floods of 1998, the people proved both their strength and
resilience. The arsenic crisis is a silent emergency and deserves to be
treated as one. We cannot wait to provide assistance to the suffering women
and children of this country. I have said before that this is a race
against time. I have faith that we and the people of this country can
win that race, if we apply ourselves to the task at hand.
Thank
you.
Ranajit
Das, Sharif Sha Jamal, Altab Elahi, Safiqui Islam, Momtaj Uddin, Md. Salim
Dhaka
Community Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh
In
59 districts of Bangladesh out of its 64 districts, arsenic has been found
in groundwater at levels above 0.05 mg/l. Millions of people are drinking
high concentrations of arsenic water every day. Dhaka Community Hospital
and SOES, Jadavpur University surveyed 64 districts and arsenic has been
found at levels > 0.05 mg/l in 47 districts. Millions of hand tubewells
are discharging high concentrations of arsenic. Only about 5% of hand tubewells
have been tested so far. We do not know the status of arsenic in the remaining
95% tubewells.
Dhaka
Community Hospital is implementing an integrated arsenic mitigation project
in Bera Upazialla of Pabna District. It is a joint DPHE-UNICEF-DCH project.
BRAC, Grameen Bank and ISDCM are implementing the same project in another
4 Upazillas of 4 districts.
The
testing and marking all tube wells, the arsenicosis identification and
the long term management, rehabilitation and installation of alternative
safe water options and water quality monitor, awareness building and community
mobilization are the major activities of the project.
In
Bera Upazilla DCH has tested all tubewells using field test kits and has
found that 51.5%of the hand tubewells are contaminated
DCH
has installed and is continuing install alternative safe water options.
The options include Pond Sand Filter, Rain Water Harvesting (cum Sand Filter),
Dug wells, Pitcher filter (Kalshi and Chari)
Water
quality tests, e.g. bacterial count and the arsenic concentration following
introduction of these options have been carried outd periodically with
field test kits and with the laboratory. The test results have all been
communicated to the tubewell users.
In
the project, DCH has identified arsenicosis by screening all members of
all families in Bera Upazilla. The initial identification of arsenicosis
patients was done by skin manifestation and was then confirmed by testing
patient's urine, nail, skin hair and blood samples.
The
patients are being treated by providing arsenic free safe water and vitamins,
both of which are closely monitored. 18 serious arsenicosis patients from
Bera have been treated in the DCH Hospital.
Alternative
Safe Water Options - Community Acceptance and Sustainability
R.
Das, JY Biduyt, AE Shohel, Anisur Rahman, TH Protik, Ariful Islam,
Dhaka
Community Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh,
Email:
dch@bangla.net
Arsenic
contamination in the ground water of Bangladesh is now a serious problem.
A large number of people in Bangladesh have been suffering and many of
them are dying from arsenicosis and related complications.
Millions
of people in the rural areas of Bangladesh still drinking highly contaminated
arsenic water because they have no alternative sources of drinking water.
Most of the people do not know whether their drinking water from hand tubewells
is arsenic-free or not.
In
our 2nd International Conference - DCH suggested that 'cost effective mitigation
options to combat arsenic crisis which are integrated, sustainable and
affordable to the community must be derived through community involvement.
We worked that a huge establishment would not be required'.
DCH
has developed sustainable and affordable alternative arsenic free safe
water options to the community. We have installed the following options
and communities have accepted them. They are implementing the mitigation
measures with their own resources.
(1)
Kalshi and Chari filter (Sand Filter), (2) Dug well and Ring well (3) Rain
Water Harvester (cum Sand Filter) (4) Pond Sand Filter (5) Safi filter
The
successful mitigation options are Kalshi and Chari filter, Dug well and
Ring well. Community people are implementing these options at their own
cost. Safi filters fail to remove arsenic from contaminated tubewell water
up to the maximum permissible level (0.05mg/l).
The
water quality (arsenic and bacterial count) resulting from the mitigation
option is periodically monitored. Test results of the options are quite
significant as 'safe water'.
We
have just installed 50 units of DPHE-DANIDA filters in the community. We
are monitoring the water quality (Arsenic, Alum, Potassium and manganese)
and community acceptance of the filter. After six months our results will
be available.
We
have also installed a 2- Chamber Sand Filter to treat the arsenic contaminated
tubewell water. We are monitoring the water quality (arsenic concentration)
after filtration. After six months, we will have sufficient results to
comment upon the mitigation option.
All
the mitigation options are installed in consultation with the community.
Community people are involved during the installation and construction
of the mitigation options.
Arsenic
Mitigation Program
Zakir
Hossain
Grameen
Bank (GB) is a specialized financial institution that has reversed conventional
banking practice by eliminating the need for collateral and replacing it
with a banking system based on mutual trust, accountability, participation
and creativity. Started in the year 1976 it provides group based credit
to the poorest of the poor in rural Bangladesh. GB sees credit as an empowering
agent of the poor who have been kept outside the banking orbit on the plea
that they are poor and hence not bankable. As of February 2000, Grameen
Bank has 2.4 million members of which 94% are women. It is serving through
1148 branch offices covering more than 50% of the villages all over the
country. The objectives of GB are to:
·extend
banking facilities to the poor men and women in the villages;
·eliminate
the exploitation of the poor by money lenders;
·create
opportunities for self-employment for the vast number of unemployed people
in rural Bangladesh;
·bring
the disadvantaged, mostly women from the poorest households, within the
fold of an organizational format which they can understand and operate;
and
·reverse
the age-old vicious circle of "low income, low savings, low investment"
into an expanding system of "low income, credit, investment, more income,
more investment, more income".
The
loanees of Grameen Bank (GB) are permitted to utilize their loans in any
kind of economic activity. The basic characteristic of Grameen Bank is
that here the borrowers do not need to come to the Bank, rather the Bank
goes to the doorsteps of the borrowers. The main objective of the Bank
is to make banking services available to the landless poor in the villages
and bring positive changes in their life style and in their socioeconomic
conditions. The loanees of Grameen Bank repay their loans in regular weekly
installments.
Social
development activities of GB
Every
man has the right to live with dignity. To live with dignity he needs food,
clothes, housing, health and education. In a developing country like us,
these five basic needs are out of the reach of the common people. It's
true that to live with human dignity one needs money. But all of our problems
cannot be solved with money. Besides money we need awareness for solving
them. That's why Grameen Bank took social development programs to empower
rural people with proper knowledge of health, hygiene and other socioeconomic
issues.
The
group members have the sixteen decisions. Every member of GB must learn
it and implement it in all walks of their lives. Proper sanitation is a
part of the implementation of sixteen decisions. Through the process of
implementing these sixteen decisions the awareness about pure drinking
water and sanitation is automatically raised.
Arsenic
mitigation program
Arsenic
contamination of ground water has become a major concern in our country
in recent years. Arsenic exists in nature in many different chemical forms.
But groundwater, the major source of drinking water in our country, has
been found polluted with high level arsenic contamination. Recent studies
reveal that out of 124 million people of our country, 35 million are at
risk of Arsenic poisoning, as Arsenic level in ground water is more than
0.05mg/L. So to help the rural people of our country in mitigating this
great problem GB started testing Arsenic in ground water using test kits.
The main objectives of our program are:
1.0Create
awareness among the borrowers and the local people about the dangerous
effect of Arsenic intake.
2.0Detect
the Arsenic contaminated tube-wells of the borrowers and the local people
using field test kits.
3.0Motivate
people to collect water from possible alternative sources for drinking
and cooking purposes.
In
October 1997 GB started its Arsenic mitigation program with the assistance
of UNICEF and the Department of Public Health Engineering. We trained 50
of our field staffs in using test kits. Up to August 1998 our trained field
staffs tested 2781 tube-wells of which 966 were found contaminated with
high level of Arsenic (35% of the total).
During
the above-mentioned sample survey in 1997-98 we found that the rate of
arsenic contamination in tube-well water of Chandpur District was highest-79%
in comparison with other districts. We had no mitigation program at that
time, but we were thinking of a comprehensive arsenic mitigation program.
We also thought that Chandpur District could be the focal point, as we
found Arsenic contamination in Chandpur higher than other areas. With the
experience GB gathered from the above-mentioned arsenic testing program
and by using the network it has at the grassroots level, GB started an
arsenic mitigation pilot project with the assistance of UNICEF and DPHE.
The
main focus of the project is to build capacity of the community and to
undertake activities that will lead to comprehensive, sustainable, and
community-based solutions for arsenic contamination. With participation
of the communities that are affected by the problem, the project will develop
major components of arsenic mitigation that will include 1) Testing and
analysis of existing water sources; 2) Demonstration of the viability of
safe water supply alternatives, 3) Communication and social mobilization
program for raising awareness about arsenic.
GS
women borrowers from the locality tested tube-wells
Grameen
Bank for the first time has engaged its female borrowers from the community
to test tube-wells. These women are not well educated. Some of them went
up to 5th or7th class in school and some of them only know how to write
their names. The processes of selecting them are as follows:
•
Woman having less family burden is given priority.
•Do
not have any minor Children.
•No
objection from herself or from the family to visit other peoples' houses
in the villages and nearby villages.
•Two
women are selected for a team who resides near each other.
•At
least one member in a team must know how to read and write.
•Six
teams (twelve women) in each Union are selected for testing of tube-wells.
•Normally
team members are selected from different parts of the Union so that they
do not have go very far from their houses for work.
•Grameen
Bank Center Manager in that area raises the issue in the weekly center
meeting and invites the members to propose names for the work.
•Concerned
GB branch manager finalizes the selection.
Selected
women borrowers (tube-well testers) were not aware about various important
arsenic-related issues, such as what is arsenic and what are its bad impacts
on the human body, how to test tube-well water using field test kits, what
are the procedures of keeping records of test results, what are the symptoms
of an arsenic affected patient and how to treat etc. It was very important
to give them proper training on these burning issues. We arranged several
two-days training programs on arsenic issues at the project office premises
in Kochua. Dhaka Community Hospital helped us in arranging training programs
by providing resource persons and other necessary materials.
Initially
it was not an easy task to test the tube-wells and mark it red or green.
People of the community could not rely on the work as all of the testers
were women borrowers (all of whom were housewives and not educated) who
were from the same locality. We found from the test result that about 98%
of the tube-wells were contaminated with high level arsenic. But owners
of some tube-wells were opposing to paint their tube-well heads with the
color red. Some of them came to the project office with sample of their
tube-well water. They were satisfied when they found that the test result
of the water sample was same as done by the uneducated women testers from
their own locality. With the passage of time the awareness of the people
is developing gradually and the testing work is becoming easier.
We
started testing tube-well water in the last week of August 1999 and have
completed it at the end of March 2000. The total number of tube-wells tested
is approximately 17902, of which 17517 tube-wells were found contaminated
with arsenic higher than the acceptable limit set for Bangladesh. Only
385 tube-wells were found safe, which is 2% of the total. Detailed result
is under process for analysis. Union-wise total test result is shown in
Table One below.
Table
One: Union-wise TW test result by GB borrowers (tester):
|
Sl.
No.
|
Union
name and code
|
|
TWs |
|
|
|
1
|
Gohat
Purbo-31
|
|
|
|
|
|
2
|
Dakkin
Kochua-47
|
|
|
|
|
|
3
|
Sohndebpur
Purbo-87
|
|
|
|
|
|
4
|
Ashrafpur-07
|
|
|
|
|
|
5
|
Uttar
Kochua-39
|
|
|
|
|
|
6
|
Bitara-15
|
|
|
|
|
|
7
|
Gohat
Uttar -23
|
|
|
|
|
|
8
|
Kadla-55
|
|
|
|
|
|
9
|
Sohadebpur
Porchim-94
|
|
|
|
|
|
10
|
Sachar-71
|
|
|
|
|
|
11
|
Pathoir-79
|
|
|
|
|
|
12
|
Koroia-63
|
|
|
|
|
|
|