Climate Change Attributable Burden of Disease: A Case Study of Delhi During 2010-2017

The climate change has stimulated many health consequences and this has become a serious concern for the humanity in the 21st century. It has an adverse effect on all community and groups such as elderly, economically backward, women etc. are utmost vulnerable to these phenomena. As climate emerged as a crucial determinant of human health, environmental epidemiology has gained relevance in understanding these health issues in the context of climate change. The estimations of disease burden based on sound epidemiological research pave the way ahead towards public policy in healthcare sector. The set of diseases and the interventions that public policy must emphasize upon can be inferred from such evidence. The present study is a quantitative study of the impacts of environmental change in terms of the current disease burden, measured as Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) in Delhi during 2010-2017. From the analysis of environmental epidemiology found that the current burden of disease due to climate-sensitive health outcomes have more number of premature deaths in Delhi are caused due to diarrheal disease among 0-14 years of population group whereas for above 15 years of age group number of deaths are caused due to cardiovascular disease and this could be said due to the heat waves and pollution. Further study investigated the economic cost of health outcome associated to mortality and morbidity due to climate change in the context of Delhi.