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Warmth saves in cold wave

In the winter of 2006-7, a severe cold wave swept through Bangladesh. Beyond a blanket of fog on the Chittagong Hills, the sun was often not visible until noon.

People with jobs were unable to reach their workplace because of the severe cold. Breadwinners could not earn, and their families went hungry. The poor resorted to burning straw, rubbish and fallen leaves to keep themselves warm.

Hospitals quickly filled with people suffering diseases associated with cold weather - pneumonia, dysentery, asthma, diarrhoea, bronchitis and fever.

These cold-weather diseases added to the region's existing health burdens. Tuberculosis is common here, while each year hundreds of people - predominantly women and children - are killed by cerebral malaria.

WorldShare's Gift of Hope 2007 catalogue, which had been published in the autumn, featured the gift of blankets and malaria nets for Bangladesh.

Every Gift of Hope project seeks to meet people at their point of need. This one was to prove especially apt, meeting need in an emergency situation that was about to unfold.

Funds raised were quickly directed to help victims of the cold wave which struck in the weeks after the project was launched.

Many vulnerable people in the hill regions of Bangladesh received the warmth and comfort of blankets, and protection from potentially deadly disease, as a result of this timely, two-part project.

The goal of the Bangladesh Baptist Church Fellowship was to distribute 2,000 mosquito nets and 2,000 warm blankets among 2,000 families in their care.

Bundles of clothing were also given to victims of the cold, with special emphasis on saving the lives of the elderly and children.

"We were so thankful to you for your generous support," reported our local partners in Bangladesh.

But what is the need there now, in winters that are not so cold, or during the floods that regularly hit Bangladesh, or the scorching summers?

"A big number of people live in the hill regions,” say our partners, “and we still need more mosquito nets to safeguard them in this malaria-prone area."