Abstract
Environmental dilapidation in developing countries upsurges the incidence of human diseases leading to societal impoverishment in the disease rampant areas. Literatures on economic evaluation of effects of environmental changes on human health are scanty. This paper descriptively reconnoiters major environmental changes, spread of diseases, associated household cost including health costs and finally benefits from the improvement of environment through household survey in western Nepal. The results ratify that draught, thunderstorm, lightning, flood and heat waves stand as the major climate-induced natural disasters affecting human health where people directly rely on agriculture for livelihood and firewood for cooking in western Nepal. Increasing temperature and decreasing rainfall in all seasons are found parallel with the increasing incidence mostly of waterborne and foodborne diseases in the hilly region and vector-borne diseases in Terai region. Increasing disease incidences with new diseases under the changing environment have aggravated an average of NPR 61,539 (NPR 104 = US$ 1) as direct household curative cost and reduced working efficiency of the patients by 47% at least for a year. Direct adaptation cost in household level is estimated as almost NPR 81,500 which is catastrophic among the remittance-dependent poor community. With poor coverage of life insurance but highly excited towards health insurance in the community, people seem willing to pay more than the government existing rate (NPR 2,500) for ensuring sustainable health security. Finally, the household’s benefit from the improvement of environmental quality partially causing the diseases incidence elicited by the willingness to pay method is obtained as NPR 1,909 per year on an average. From the policy perspective, the results can be destiny in the formulation of environmental conservation plan and generation of self-motivation to the people around disease prone areas in western Nepal.
Highlights
In broad-spectrum, environmental vicissitudes including environmental degradations and climate change causing economic losses to the people with technological backwardness in developing countries are partially or wholly responsible for decreased productivity and increased health problems
Based on the objective of the study, primary data are foremost for results which are collected from two study areas of western Nepal and secondary data were supplementary for obtaining the results as collected from published resources for the investigation of environmental effects on human health descriptively, maintaining both qualitative and quantitative aspects
This study has developed a framework about the consequences of environmental degradations in terms of natural disasters and catastrophic payment of increasing diseases outbreak affected Nepalese households due to climate, air and water induced several acute and chronic diseases
Summary
In broad-spectrum, environmental vicissitudes including environmental degradations and climate change causing economic losses to the people with technological backwardness in developing countries are partially or wholly responsible for decreased productivity and increased health problems. Within these problematic burning issues, scientists are still working for developing evidences through integrating assessment methods. Environmental hazards influence or are even responsible for about one-fourth of the total burden of diseases worldwide, mainly communicable diseases in. The disease burden can be influenced often by the result of diverse environmental, social and behavioral risk factors (PrüssUstün et al, 2016). Human behavioral factors create a force for the destruction of the environment quality especially, such as urban development and traffic resulting in the effects on human health
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