In northern Bangladesh, a mother sits up through the night, too anxious to sleep for fear of what might happen to her small son. Thirty five-year-old Kamrunn Nahar, a mother of two, lives in Bashalia village, which was completely under water for 15 days following recent floods.

"I am afraid to go to sleep in case I wake up and find the children have gone playing in the water, fallen in and died," she says.

She's not alone in her fears. Throughout northern Bangladesh, desperate parents are trying to teach their blithely unaware children about the dangers of playing in dirty flood waters.

For those who fled the devastated flood zones by boat or raft, it was an added anguish.

"We didn't know what was happening when the water was coming. The children were afraid but at the same time they love to play with the water," says 45-year-old Munjary of Maijhaly village.

"All around, mothers were holding their children to them. One of my grandsons fell in the water and died - he was just one and half years old. He was called Chejanush."

For millions of distraught Bangladeshis, many of whom have lost everything, teaching their children to fear water is a strange and contradictory experience.

Many of the affected villages lie on river banks and children are encouraged to play and swim in the water from a young age.

WATER BABIES

"We try to keep the children at home and tell them not to go near the water but it is so difficult. The risk is always there. This is a riverine area and the children were brought up around the water. They were never taught to stay away - they were taught to learn swimming so one day they could go be a fisherman. To protect them now is difficult," Munjary adds.

As children play happily in the infected water, concerns about health risks grow. Twenty six-year-old Jobed Ali and his 19-year-old wife, Rokia, fret as they watch over their son Rahim, who's three and a half years old.

"It was difficult with our son as he got sick from the floodwater. He fell in and has had a fever, cough, headache and jaundice. We took refuge in the school but there was not enough food there, so now we have come home. He still has a fever but he is getting better."

In response to the critical health needs of people in the affected regions, the Bangladesh Red Crescent - with support from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - will provide basic healthcare to 350,000 people over a period of eight months. This will include sending out 15 mobile medical teams with essential medicines.

The aim is to ensure that sick children like Rahim get the treatment they need, and that other children and adults can be prevented from falling ill in the first place.

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