Abstract
Using the unit data from the second round of the Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS-II), 2011–2012, which covered 42,152 households, this paper examines the association between multidimensional poverty, household environmental deprivation and short-term morbidities (fever, cough and diarrhoea) in India. Poverty is measured in a multidimensional framework that includes the dimensions of education, health and income, while household environmental deprivation is defined as lack of access to improved sanitation, drinking water and cooking fuel. A composite index combining multidimensional poverty and household environmental deprivation has been computed, and households are classified as follows: multidimensional poor and living in a poor household environment, multidimensional non-poor and living in a poor household environment, multidimensional poor and living in a good household environment and multidimensional non-poor and living in a good household environment.Results suggest that about 23% of the population belonging to multidimensional poor households and living in a poor household environment had experienced short-term morbidities in a reference period of 30 days compared to 20% of the population belonging to multidimensional non-poor households and living in a poor household environment, 19% of the population belonging to multidimensional poor households and living in a good household environment and 15% of the population belonging to multidimensional non-poor households and living in a good household environment. Controlling for socioeconomic covariates, the odds of short-term morbidity was 1.47 [CI 1.40–1.53] among the multidimensional poor and living in a poor household environment, 1.28 [CI 1.21–1.37] among the multidimensional non-poor and living in a poor household environment and 1.21 [CI 1.64–1.28] among the multidimensional poor and living in a good household environment compared to the multidimensional non-poor and living in a good household environment. Results are robust across states and hold good for each of the three morbidities: fever, cough and diarrhoea. This establishes that along with poverty, household environmental conditions have a significant bearing on short-term morbidities in India. Public investment in sanitation, drinking water and cooking fuel can reduce the morbidity and improve the health of the population.
Highlights
Three billion people are using open fires and leaky stoves, biomass and coal for preparing food (WHO 2011), 2.4 billion people do not have access to improved sanitation and 663 million people lack access to safe drinking water (UNICEF/WHO 2015)
The multidimensional poverty headcount ratio varies for different values of k for India, suggesting the reliability of the estimates
It holds true for the states of India (Fig. 3a), suggesting that the estimates of multidimensional poverty are robust
Summary
Three billion people are using open fires and leaky stoves, biomass (wood, animal dung and crop waste) and coal for preparing food (WHO 2011), 2.4 billion people do not have access to improved sanitation and 663 million people lack access to safe drinking water (UNICEF/WHO 2015). The global progress in household living condition, state of health and poverty reduction is uneven across and within countries. In 1987, the Brundtland Commission acknowledged the role of basic household living conditions in reducing poverty and identified poverty as the major cause and effect of global environmental problems (United Nations 1987). Goal 7 of the Millennium Declaration aimed at ensuring environmental sustainability by improving access to safe drinking water and urban sanitation by 2015. Despite these concerns, household environmental deprivations remain neglected and a major cause of concern in developing countries
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