Arsenic contamination in drinking water has a detrimental impact on human health which profoundly impairs the quality of life. Despite recognition of the adverse health implications of arsenic toxicity, there have been few studies to date to suggest measures that could be taken to overcome arsenic contamination. After the statement in 2000 WHO Bulletin that Bangladesh has been experiencing the largest mass poisoning of population in history, we researched existing literature to assess the magnitude of groundwater arsenic contamination in Bangladesh. The literature reviewed related research that had been initiated and/or completed since the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) under four domains: (1) extent of arsenic contamination; (2) health consequences; (3) mitigation and technologies and (4) future directions. To this means, a review matrix was established for analysis of previous literature based on these four core domains. Our findings revealed that several high-quality research articles were produced at the beginning of the MDG period, but efforts have dwindled in recent years. Furthermore, there were only a few studies conducted that focused on developing suitable solutions for managing arsenic contamination. Although the government of Bangladesh has made its population’s access to safe drinking water a priority agenda item, there are still pockets of the population that continue to suffer from arsenic toxicity due to contaminated water supplies.

Anemia is a significant wide spread public health threat especially among the adolescent girls who are more vulnerable towards low level of hemoglobin particularly of low and middle income countries (LMICs). We investigated the prevalence of anemia among the adolescent girls (10–19 years) in Bangladesh and its socio-demographics distribution. We collected data digitally in ODK platform from a sub-sample of a nationwide cross-sectional survey of 1314 adolescent girls in 2015. Capillary blood hemoglobin level was estimated using HemoCue®; anthropometric measurements through standardized procedure and details socio-demographic information were captured and analyzed. Malnutrition was defined as BMI-for-age Z-score below -2SD (BAZ < −2SD), measured in WHO-AnthroPlus. Univariate analysis followed by multiple logistic regression were performed to examine the association between socio-demographic variables and anemia, while controlling the effect of potential confounding variables. Overall, 51.6% girls were suffering from any form of anemia (non-pregnant-Hb < 12 g/dl; pregnant-Hb < 11 g/dl) while 46% were mildly (non-pregnant-Hb: 10–11.9 g/dl; pregnant-Hb: 10–10.9 g/dl) and 5.4% were moderately (Hb: 7–9.9 g/dl) anemic while only 0.2% were severely anemic. After controlling for relevant covariates in multiple logistic regression model, malnutrition (AOR: 1.42, 95% CI = 1.0–2.10, p-value = 0.083), non-pregnancy (AOR: 6.10, 95% CI = 2.70–13.78, p-value < 0.001), and households with bottom wealth quintile (AOR: 1.54, 95% CI = 1.03–2.30, p-value = 0.037) were identified as significant risk factors of anemia among adolescent girls of Bangladesh. Higher number of adolescent girls are still suffering from anemia in Bangladesh and non-pregnant adolescent girls contributed the most. Immediate, long term and sustainable public health intervention would require to combat the situation.