Doctors in Bengal concerned about adverse ecological impact on female reproductive health

Healthcare professionals in West Bengal address rising female reproductive health challenges exacerbated by climate change and environmental stressors.

Healthcare professionals in West Bengal are grappling with rising public health challenges, especially in female reproductive health, with the increasing impact of climate change.

Gynaecologists practising in West Bengal cite environmental stressors such as malnutrition, prolonged exposure to high temperatures, poor air quality, and limited access to clean water behind reproductive health challenges in women, including irregular menstrual cycles, decreased fertility, and complications during pregnancy. 

The impact has been described as most severe for women in rural areas and low-income communities, including Sunderbans in West Bengal, where the effects of climate change are often amplified by recurring natural calamities, limited access to healthcare, and poor living conditions.

“Recurring natural disasters such as annual cyclones are especially common in an area like the Sunderbans. When you note the loss of livelihood and socioeconomic distress caused by natural disasters, mental stress becomes the immediate medical after effect,” Runu Bhattacharjee, senior gynaecologist and obstetrician with a practice of over five decades, said.

Dr. Bhattacharjee said that high levels of mental stress, especially in younger female populations, has a long-term damaging effect on the female reproductive system, especially ovaries, leading to an imbalance in oestrogen and progesterone levels in young women, and consequently causing irregular ovulation cycles, ovarian cysts, and fertility issues in older age.

“The ovaries are delicate organs. Climate change would also force deprived populations to undergo diet changes where they would be compelled to eat what is available, whether or not it is healthy or sufficient. Food habit changes along with mental stress will further exacerbate changes in the female body, consequently causing issues in all bodily systems, especially reproductive and skin health,” Dr. Bhattacharjee said.

Rajni Bagai, senior consultant in gynaecology and obstetrics at Narayana Hospital, Howrah and Chunavati, highlighted the specific risks posed by air pollution. “Air pollution has been shown to adversely affect both fertility and pregnancy outcomes. Studies from IVF centres have shown lower success rates or increased numbers of unsuccessful cycles in areas with poor air quality,” Dr. Bagai said.