<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Chief Heat Officer for Dhaka North City Bushra Afreen has said they are working to make life bearable for women in the communities with some solutions amid heatwaves.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"We are prioritizing solutions like providing drinking water at bus tops and coupling this with accessible women-friendly washrooms to ensure that women can easily find relief and safety during their daily commutes," she said in a video message.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Afreen, who attended a session as a panelist at the 57th Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), said this is only the beginning of their journey to counteract the threat of heat and create a sustainable and cooler future for Dhaka.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She said 2023 was the hottest year on record and last month’s heatwaves in Dhaka were longer and more intense than ever before.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Afreen said the heat felt suffocating making it literally too hot to breathe.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"As the Chief Heat Officer, I have observed the impact of these temperatures on women living in informal settlements," she said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Chief Heat Officer said the recent closure of schools due to the heat have left them juggling childcare alongside their works, which further marginalized them in a city which was never built for them.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Our efforts are centered on closing the gap that makes our heated city so unlivable for women," she said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Leading up to their heat awareness campaign, she said, they are identifying their daily greatest challenges and the risks they face during heatwaves.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Country's maximum temperature was recently recorded at 43.8 degree Celsius in Jashore.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Arsht-Rock, a Washington-based non-profit organisation, appointed social entrepreneur Bushra Afreen as its chief heat officer who is working in Dhaka North City Corporation area.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center (Arsht-Rock) set out to reach one billion people worldwide with resilience solutions by 2030. According to UNB reports&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd/fas</div>