Urban adaptation to climate sensitive health effect: Evaluation of coping strategies for dengue in Delhi, India

In absence of adaptation initiative, residents resort to coping strategies to manage climate-related health risks. Delhi, the capital city of India, is highly endemic to the climate sensitive vector-borne disease of dengue. The weeks of a year with risk of dengue occurrence due to weather patterns are identified by using Poisson regression which uses data for climate variables and reported dengue cases. The coping strategies adopted by household are then evaluated using survey data of 559 households. An economic evaluation of coping strategies to serve as an important decision tool in developing adaptive capacity was carried out using household health production function approach. The econometric tools of Negative Binomial Regression and probit regression have been used for evaluation. The methodological framework provides a novel approach by linking climatic variability, health impact and economic evaluation of adaptation strategies. The results reveal that the dengue risk is mainly addressed by coping strategies at the household level and intervention measures are ineffective due to inappropriate timing and selective approach. The annual economic benefit of adopting coping strategies is estimated as US$ 65 per household. The benefits of coping strategies in reducing dengue risk contribute to the planning of adaptation strategies at city level.