Poverty Plagues Children in Bangladesh

Nearly 50 percent of Bangladesh’s primary school students drop out before they complete fifth grade, as crushing poverty drives them into the informal employment sector.

Forests, Fruit and Fish Could Save Coastal Communities

Scientists predict that in the coming years, Bangladesh will be battered by even more climate disasters than it has already endured. Global warming has caused devastating damage in this lower Himalayan delta country of 150 million people, where seawater intrusion, increasingly intense cyclones, dried up rivers and extreme weather events have become the norm.

First Burning Homes, Now Border Patrols

In late August, Mohammad Saifuddin (not his real name), together with his wife, three daughters and son, fled the carnage of communal violence in western Myanmar’s Rakhine province and headed for the border of neighbouring Bangladesh.

Bangladesh Eyes Drug Export Market

Bangladesh has begun to shed its image as one of the world’s poorest nations and make a reputation for itself as a major exporter of cheap generic drugs to over 85 countries.

‘Breastfeeding Best for Bangladesh’

Bangladesh’s achievement in raising exclusive breastfeeding rates for infants under six months from 43 percent to 64 percent, over the last five years, is said to be the result of a determined campaign by government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

After Riots, Buddhists Call for Peace

Anxiety has yet to die down over a week after crowds of Muslims torched more than a dozen temples and scores of houses in southeast Bangladesh, leaving thousands of Buddhists with the unshakeable premonition that more violence was forthcoming.

Locals Urge Fresh Negotiations on Padma Bridge Funding

Amidst continuing controversy over the World Bank’s recent decision to cancel a 1.2 billion-dollar loan to Bangladesh to assist in the construction of the Padma Bridge – which would have been the country’s largest ever development project, worth 2.9 billion dollars – most locals have expressed deep concern about the impact of such a move on one of the world’s least developed countries.

New World Bank Chief Backs Defunding Bangladesh Bridge Project

On Monday, his first day in office, new World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said he sees the institution's recent decision to pull out of a massive bridge project in Bangladesh as "appropriate".

Bangladesh Braces for HIV Epidemic

Bangladesh has shown low HIV prevalence rates so far but may be silently moving towards an epidemic, say experts pointing to underreporting and poor monitoring for the virus in the general population.

Bangladesh Set to Take the Reins at Rio+20

Experts believe that the upcoming United Nations Earth Summit, Rio+ 20, scheduled to take place in Brazil from Jun.20-22, could be a real opportunity for Bangladesh to negotiate a road to sustainable development.

Caught Between Diarrhoea Bugs and Arsenic

Achieving the Millennium Development Goal of providing access to safe drinking water for its 160 million people by 2015 is a tough call for Bangladesh, which is caught between arsenic contaminated groundwater and diarrhoea-causing microbes in its ponds and rivers.

Bangladesh Braves Climate Change With Community Radio

"Welcome to Krishi (farming) Radio. You are listening to FM 98.8 megahertz and I am your hostess Shahnaz Parvin," the local community radio crackles over the mobile phones and transistors of residents in coastal Barguna district.