Drought and Public Health Challenges: Analysing causations and interventions

Abstract

Water stress, occasioned by irregular and insufficient rainfall, has been found to have far-reaching impacts on human lives and livelihoods. Often, these impacts have been linked to agriculture, industry and household water needs. In transcending these usual narratives about drought impacts, this study attempts to discuss the drought-health nexus which is an area of scholarship that has not gained much attention. Relying on extant literature as data source and content analysis as analytical tool, the study highlights the impacts of drought on public health. The study recommends early warning systems (EWSs), scenario planning (SP) etc. as interventions which can ameliorate the impacts of drought on public health.