By Mr. Mohammad Asad Tahir Jappa As the world faces unprecedented challenges from the climate crisis, deteriorating biodiversity, and the tolling of alarm bells over energy security, the crying need for climate leadership is in the spotlight. While we have…
When Climate Crises Become Health Crises: The Hidden Impact on Pregnant Women
By Mr. Alexander Skinner and Professor Nibedita Ray-Bennett Climate change isn’t just about rising seas and carbon emissions—it’s a health crisis, especially for women of reproductive age in disaster-prone regions. When floods, cyclones, or heatwaves strike, access to essential reproductive…
Seeds of Resilience: Lessons from Odisha for a Climate-Just Future
By Mr. Yunes Abou El Wafa and Mr. Eduardo Cardoso As the global community gathers at COP30 to advance the implementation of loss and damage mechanisms, the lived realities of smallholder farmers in rural India emphasize the urgency while showing…
Using COP as an Opportunity to Reflect on the Relationship Between Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction
By Dr Hideyuki Shiroshita Photo credits: The Japan Times In Japan, disaster risk reduction (DRR) measures and climate change policies have, for many years, been promoted as separate efforts. In terms of governmental responsibilities, DRR has mainly been handled by…
The Young and the Displaced: Why Loss and Damage Demands Action
By Master Arkoneil Ghosh and Ms. Prarthona Datta Floods, droughts, and storms are no longer headlines; they are daily realities for millions of children globally. When disaster strikes, homes are swept away, schools become shelters, and families must begin again…
Lightning The Silent Killer: How Climate Change is Fuelling Lightning Strikes and Fatalities- and how India leads Building Lightning Resilience of Communities
Lightning is an awe-inspiring, natural but fascinating phenomenon since times immemorial. But in recent times, it has shown sharp increase in its frequency, severity, intensity and dimensions in many parts of the world, especially in tropical and developing countries; and…
Information Integrity: Keeping the data in mind during COP30
By Omri Shoshani As loss and damage has grown into a central discussion during the recent Conference of the Parties under the UNFCC, and will undoubtedly play an important role during COP30, it warrants reflecting on the evidence that will…
Challenging Anthropocentrism: Non-Human Loss and Damage and the Climate Debt in Heat-Stressed Urban India
By Ms. Lauren MacLeod The climate crisis compels a review of how policy addresses vulnerability in the context of the COP30 Global Ethical Stocktake (GES), which asks ‘Why do we continue with production and consumption models that harm the most…
Adaptation That Works: From Local Action to Global Ambition at COP30
Perspective on Building Protection, Not Just Response By Vishal Pathak Photo credits: Ab Rashid/UNDP Bangladesh As the world prepares for COP30 in Belém, Brazil, the conversation on climate change is finally shifting from crisis to capability—from measuring losses to financing…
Anyone Can Be Bitten By A Snake, No One Should Die!
Every year, an estimated 5.4 million people worldwide are bitten by snakes, resulting in 1.8 to 2.7 million cases of envenoming (WHO, 2023). Of these, between 81,410 and 137,880 people die, and approximately three times as many suffer amputations or…
World Snake Day
Today we celebrate snake’s unique role in our ecosystem: Most snakes are not aggressive and non-venomous, and often bite in self-defence, when threatened or provoked; trying to kill them will expose you to a higher risk of bite. Photo with…
Why are “Plastic Deaths” avoidable? The Avoidable Deaths Network campaign against plastic
By Giulia Cristiana According to Tearfund, we are losing one person to plastic pollution every 30 seconds. That is roughly one million people a year. Since its inception in 1907, plastic has quickly become one of the most produced, consumed,…
International Women’s Day 2025: Accelerate Action for Women’s Inclusion & Resilience
By Maryam Mohammed Samaila At the Avoidable Deaths Network (ADN), we believe that accelerating action means moving beyond words to transformative change. This International Women’s Day (IWD), we stand in solidarity with global efforts to break barriers, drive inclusion, and…
Well-Fall Deaths Are Avoidable Deaths
By Tahira Khan In District Chiniot, Pakistan, agricultural well falls have been a persistent yet preventable cause of injuries and fatalities among farmers and livestock, with 286 incidents reported from 2013 to 2023. Previously, no protective measures were in place,…
The Economics of Indian Antivenom
By Chloe Vasquez Globally, antivenom markets are broken and unreliable, plagued by sky-high prices, severe shortages and the constant drop-out of producers from the market. In India, however, antivenoms are cheap and widely available. So, how is India producing so…
Letter from the Editor-in-Chief
December 19, 2024 Dear readers and the ADN community, Welcome to our sixth Newsletter for the Avoidable Deaths Network (ADN). ADN is a global-local membership network of 900+ members representing 800+ organisations across 94 countries. ADN is dedicated to finding…
Case Station for Avoidable Snakebite Deaths (CaSA)
Case Station for Avoidable Snakebite Deaths (CaSA) By Ms Lauren Macleod and Prof Nibedita S. Ray-Bennett The Case Station for Avoidable Snakebite Deaths (CaSA) was launched on 19 September 2024 in Odisha, India, as an outcome of two research projects:…
Tsunami Deaths Project
Tsunami Deaths Project By Dr Hideyuki Shiroshita New Hama’s Junior Champions have been influenced by their senior champions’ work—shooting films for tsunami disaster risk reduction. This year, 50 new Junior Champions, who are 5th-grade pupils of Hama Elementary School in…
Drowning in LMIC Settings
Drowning in LMIC Settings By Mr Lasith Dissanayake Drowning is a serious and neglected public health threat, causing morbidity and mortality worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), drowning is the third leading cause of unintentional injury death, accounting…
Reproductive Health in Disasters Project
Reproductive Health in Disasters Project By Prof Nibedita S. Ray-Bennett and Dr Te Klangboonkrong The project entitled “Prototyping Reproductive Health (RH) Kits for Disasters and Crises” is a continuation of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) funded evidence-based intervention project…
ADN Junior Champion Magazine
ADN Junior Champion Magazine By Arkoneil Ghosh and Anushka Konar The second issue of the ADN Junior Champion Magazine (ISSN 2759-0380) focuses on children and youth’s experiences of disasters in Bangladesh. This edition, published on 13 October to mark ‘International…
Global Campaign: International Awareness Day for Avoidable Deaths
Global Campaign: International Awareness Day for Avoidable Deaths By Abdullahi O. Umar The Avoidable Deaths Network (ADN) celebrated the first year of the global campaign, International Awareness Day for Avoidable Deaths (IAD4AD) throughout March 2024. The global campaign, a significant…
Affiliate Project Update
Missing Persons Project By Dr Aditya Ghosh Disasters induced by climatic changes are producing social and economic stress of unprecedented complexity and scale across vulnerable regions. Apart from direct losses and damages resulting from these disasters, there are acute social…
ADN Country Chapter Updates
ADN Country Chapter Updates By Abdullahi O. Umar ADN has two country chapters, and this article provides an update from Bangladesh and India. Bangladesh: Dr Fatima Akter hosts the ADN Bangladesh Chapter at the University of Dhaka. In 2024, the…
Perspectives on Avoidable Deaths
Mr Mihir Bhatt’s Perspective on Avoidable Deaths Mr Mihir Bhatt’s Interview Transcript Do you believe it is possible to achieve the Sendai Framework’s first two global targets? The first target is to substantially reduce disaster mortality by 2030, and the…
Updates on Sendai Goals A and B
Updates on Sendai Targets A & B: Snapshot of Sendai Framework Monitor 2014-2023 By Prof Nibedita S. Ray-Bennett The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) monitors the seven global targets of the ‘Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction…
Child Drowning: A Major Public Health Concern in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan
By Md Shafkat Hossain 25 July is World Drowning Prevention Day. Drowning deaths are avoidable, yet every year according to the World Health Organization nearly a quarter of a million people lose their lives to drowning, and almost 82 000 of…
A Global Anthropocene Earth Science Take on Avoidable Deaths
By Professor Michael G Petterson Purpose of this Article The purpose of this article, written specifically for the Avoidable Deaths Network is to: 1) present a discourse founded in some of the greatest contributions of Earth Science to human thinking;…
#InspireInclusion: International Women’s Day
By Dr. Madhulika Sahoo International Women’s Day (IWD) is a day of collective global action and celebration that belongs to all those committed to shaping women’s equality. The theme for this year IWD 2024 is Inspire Inclusion. According to the…
Avoidable Deaths Network (ADN): Building a Public Discourse on Saving Lives
By Dr. Shakuntala Pratihary “Jātasya Hi Dhruvo Mṛityu” – an important Indian philosophical statement explains the narrative that death always follows birth. But if the reason for death is occurring at a pre-matured stage of human life, then the loss…
Disaster deaths post major emergencies and how can they be reduced
By Professor Alois Hirschmugl On 12th of March, the International Awareness Day for Avoidable Deaths, #avoidabledeathsday, will be held. For that reason, I thought about those deaths after major emergencies that could have been avoided and how to reduce them.…
Letter from the Editor-in-Chief
29 December 2023 Dear readers and the ADN community, Welcome to our fifth Newsletter for the Avoidable Deaths Network (ADN). ADN is a global membership network, dedicated to finding theoretical and practical solutions to reducing avoidable deaths from disasters. As I reflect…
Loss and Damage Funds Must Target the Most Vulnerable and Be Just
Loss and Damage Funds Must Target the Most Vulnerable and Be Just By Dr Aditya Ghosh Introduction The Loss and Damage fund finalized at the Conference of Parties (CoP) 28 must develop a mechanism to identify those most vulnerable to…
Hazards catalogue of Bangladesh and Oman: A first step in risk assessment
Hazards catalogue of Bangladesh and Oman: A first step in risk assessment By Edris Alam Introduction To develop a hazard catalogue, it requires collating recent and historical events from diverse sources, including written records, archaeological findings, and geological data (Alam…
Shine Light on an ADN’s Project: Avoidable Snakebite Deaths
Shine Light on an ADN’s Project: Avoidable Snakebite Deaths Dr Nibedita S. Ray-Bennett and Ms Lauren Macleod This year the Avoidable Deaths Network explored the feasibility and value of two novel networking models: the knowledge exchange network (KEN) model for…
Shine a Light on ADN’s Project: Junior Champions in Osaka Have Been Working on Avoiding Tsunami Deaths since 2013
Shine a Light on ADN’s Project: Junior Champions in Osaka Have Been Working on Avoiding Tsunami Deaths since 2013 By Hideyuki Shiroshita On the 12th of December 2023, Hama’s Junior Champions finished filming two films to reduce avoidable deaths from…
Perspectives on Avoidable Deaths
Mr Daniel Mendez’s Perspective on Avoidable Deaths Mr Daniel Mendez is a risk, crisis, and disaster manager with over 20 years of experience in the management of security and crisis situations at the national and local levels. Currently, Mr Mendez…
Perspectives on Avoidable Deaths
Professor A Q M Mahbub’s Perspective on Avoidable Deaths Professor Dr A Q M Mahbub is the Vice-Chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology University, Bangladesh and is a distinguished expert in disaster management. Professor Dr A Q…
Perspectives on Avoidable Deaths
Professor Norio Okada’s Perspective on Avoidable Deaths Professor Norio Okada is an Emiratus Professor at Kyoto University. He is also Advisor to Kwansei Gakuin University, Visiting Professor at Kumamoto University and Senior Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies…
Updates on Sendai Goals A and B
Midterm Review of the Implementation of the Sendai Framework: Implications for Avoidable Deaths Network By Nibedita S. Ray-Bennett The year 2023 marks the midpoint of the implementation of the ‘Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030’ agreement. A Midterm Review…