As Temperatures Rise, Dengue & Chikunyungya Gain Ground In Dhaka, Home To 37 Million Residents
It is a cloudy, humid September morning near the end of monsoon season in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh and one of the world's most densely populated cities. Streets normally bustling are quiet as residents of the Uttara neighbourhood prepare for the weekly prayer. Suddenly, dozens of young volunteers emerge from the silence, gathering before heading to the shores of a small nearby lake. There, the stench of rotting waste hangs heavily in the air, burning the inside of their nostrils and stifling breaths. They begin to organise into different teams. Some pick litter off the ground. Others take a canoe and nets into the stagnant water. They collect plastic containers, banana peels, and anything else that has pooled in or near the lake over months and years. Some volunteers even dive into the murky water searching for waste.
Volunteers clean one of the canals in a neighbourhood in northern Dhaka. Photo: Omar Hamed Beato
A man collecting shoes in southern Dhaka, where textile industries pollute the environment. Photo: Omar Hamed Beato
“All of us young volunteers are working hard to clean [up] and represent our country to the world,” said Umme Kulsum Siddiki Brishti, a university student, as she took a break during the Uttara clean up. “We are trying to change people's mindset.” Bangladesh Clean, the group that organised the day’s volunteers, is not just a beautification effort. In a country where more than 272,000 premature deaths are associated with air pollution, unsafe water, poor sanitation, and lead exposure annually , it’s an acknowledgment that the stakes are life-or-death.
Between 1901 and 2019, average temperatures in Bangladesh have increased by nearly 2°Celsius during some months. This warming, coupled with increasingly irregular rainfall patterns, is leading to longer summers and warmer winters. Mosquitoes are now breeding more rapidly, bringing with them diseases such as dengue and chikungunya. The insects thrive in warm, humid environments rich in the kind of organic matter found in much of Dhaka’s waste.
EDIT
Bangladesh has experienced big spikes in mosquito-borne diseases, especially dengue and chikungunya, in recent years. In 2023, there were 3,21,179 reported cases of dengue and 1,705 deaths — the country’s worst outbreak on record. Official numbers were smaller in 2025, just over 100,000 cases, but health experts warn it is likely an undercount. Only a fraction of hospitals document dengue infections, while limited access to healthcare in rural areas leaves many cases undiagnosed. ''Without action by the people, without action by society, [dengue] is not possible to manage,'' said Karibul Bashar, an entomologist and epidemiologist at Jahangirnagar University and adviser to the World Health Organization in Southeast Asia. ''There are a lot of small containers, canned food, packaged food, polythene sheets, polythene bags, and plastic bags everywhere." Even a small amount of water in any plastic bag or plastic cup is enough for Aedes mosquitoes to breed, he added.
EDIT
https://www.asiandispatch.net/volunteers-are-battling-climate-fuelled-disease-at-its-source-bangladesh