The Karnaphuli River, considered as the lifeline to business activities for both the hill people and the flatlanders in the country's far east region, is dying due to mindless encroachment, dumping of industrial and clinical wastes, and lack of maintenance.

Aout 50,000 people of the two neglected and backward northern districts of Panchagarh and Thakurgaon have been suffering in various eye diseases.

And they easily fall prey to different eye diseases due to poverty and unawareness. Since there is no eye treatment center locally, the patients cannot treat their eye diseases.

Paying people to protect forests can be an effective way to tackle deforestation and climate change, but only if there is good governance of natural resources, says a study conducted by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).

The World Health Organization says a vaccine which can prevent a diarrhoea and vomiting virus should be given to all children as a routine vaccination.

Rotavirus causes more than 500,000 diarrheal deaths and two million hospitalisations a year among children.

Over 85% of deaths occur in developing countries in Africa and Asia.

With the global temperature gradually on the rise, Bangladesh being a tropical delta has also been experiencing comparatively higher humidity and temperature through the past couple of decades, threatening agriculture, climatologists have observed.

The recent Cyclone Aila has caused widespread damaged to fishery resources of patuakhali district. The tidal surge that engulfed most part of the district, washed out 1717 shrimp farms of the districts and submerged about 50,000 ponds of the district. Many fishermen lost their fishing nets, trawlers and fishing boats.

Advocate Mostafizur Rahman, State Minister of Environment and Forest Ministry held legal complexity and weak manpower responsible for improper action against man made pollution to environment.

He said this yesterday while addressing a press conference on World Environment Day scheduled to be observed today.

Bangladesh has called upon the global community to support climate change strategies and adapt action plans of the least developed countries (LDCs) for facing the ever increasing adverse impacts of global warming and sea-rise.

Tuberculosis is a serious health problem in Bangladesh as some 50 percent of the adult population are contagious with the mycobacterium tuberculosis germs, physicians told a roundtable yesterday.

"Bangladesh is in 6th position among 22 countries in the world where number of tuberculosis patients are found largest," said Dr Mafuza Rifat, senior specialist of BRAC healthcare programme.

Country's 33 percent arable land is likely to face serious crisis, ultimately with production loss of around 60 lakh tonnes a year, due mainly to excessive withdrawal of underground water and intrusion of saline water into the sweet water arteries, experts said here on Tuesday.