How Information Beats the Heat in Bangladesh

Extreme heat is a daily reality for the millions of people around the world who work under the open sun. Rising global temperatures turn routine tasks into a health risk, pushing farmers toward dehydration, heat exhaustion, and even death. The consequences of these impacts extend far beyond the field — threatening families’ incomes, communities’ food security, and ultimately entire economies.

In Bangladesh, where agriculture employs around 45 percent of the country’s workforce, the threat is impossible to ignore. In 2023 alone, Bangladesh lost more than 26 billion potential labor hours to heat, with agricultural workers suffering disproportionately. Against this backdrop, the government’s Department of Agricultural Extension set out to respond.

The solution? HeatShield, a pilot program to help farmers navigate extreme heat, developed in partnership with the icddr,b (an internationally-recognized health research institute and Rockefeller Foundation grantee), as well as the Directorate General of Health Services, the Bangladesh Meteorological Department, and the Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES) — combining skills and insights across agriculture, health, and meteorology.

HeatShield includes several components to help farmers stay safe — starting with a dedicated heat alert system integrated into the government’s BAMIS (Bangladesh Agro-Meteorological Information Service) platform and mobile app. Thanks to this, farmers receive early warnings that heat is coming, alongside practical guidance on how to stay cool and protect themselves. To maximize impact, the app is accompanied by an AI-powered chatbot and in-person trainings to help agricultural workers recognize signs of heat-related illness, as well as support to health facilities so they can be better equipped to diagnose and treat patients quickly.

The premise is simple. Advice about what clothing to wear, when to stay out of the sun, or how often to drink water can have a profound effect — from individual health to food security to economic resilience.

That’s because HeatShield is grounded in the basic but powerful insight that these areas are deeply connected. By breaking down barriers between agriculture, health, and weather systems, Bangladesh is modeling an integrated approach to climate adaptation — one designed around the realities people face on the ground.

As Dr. Farjana Jahan, Associate Scientist at icddr,b, puts it: “When a farmer survives the heat, a family survives hunger.”

Read more insights about Future Proofing Health from Dr. Naveen Rao, The Rockefeller Foundation’s senior vice president for health, following his recent visit to Bangladesh.