Household livelihood vulnerability (HLV) remains a critical yet underexplored determinant of child health in climate-sensitive coastal regions of Bangladesh, where recurrent climate hazards disrupt livelihoods, reduce income stability, intensify food insecurity, and limit access to essential health services. Therefore, this study examines the extent and determinants of HLV and its implications for child health in southwestern coastal Bangladesh. Following the survey method, this community-based cross-sectional study was carried out in six villages of Dacope upazila in Khulna district of Bangladesh. Data were collected from 348 randomly selected caregivers of under-five children at the household level from July to October 2024. The findings demonstrated that the prevalence of HLV was 58.6% in the study area. HLV showed significant spatial and occupational variation, with the highest prevalence observed in Sutarkhali village and among households primarily dependent on Sundarbans-based natural resource extraction. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that higher odds of livelihood vulnerability were examined among Muslim households, households with multiple dependents, food insecure households, those that had recently borrowed money from friends or relatives, and those relying on local government assistance. Conversely, household heads with primary, secondary, or higher education, monthly savings of BDT ≤ 1,000, and households with multiple income earners had lower odds of livelihood vulnerability. Furthermore, child health analysis revealed a significant relationship between household vulnerability and child undernutrition, indicating that children from vulnerable households were more likely to be severely underweight than peers from non-vulnerable households. This study highlights the need for integrated policy responses that simultaneously address livelihood insecurity and child health particularly, strengthening climate-resilient and diversified livelihoods, expanding education, vocational training, and financial inclusion programs (e.g., savings schemes and microcredit), and the integration of vulnerability assessments into child-nutrition programs through targeted cash transfers, supplementary feeding, growth monitoring, and nutrition counseling in coastal Bangladesh.
Akter et al. (Sat,) studied this question.