Monsoon rainfall has become more unpredictable in India.
Monsoon rainfall has become more unpredictable in India. Floods and droughts have become more common and pose multiple risks to human health and wellbeing, with children under five being particularly vulnerable. New research finds that more assistance needs to be provided to communities in flood-prone areas to protect children under five from undernutrition.
Little is known about the risks climate change will pose to human health in South Asia. New research done at IIASA and published in the journal PLOS ONE shows that the effects of climate shocks vary across different parts of India and that more support needs to be provided in areas at risk of floods, with interventions focused on households with pregnant women and infants. The study for the first time used geographical climate data with new data from the Indian National Family Health Survey 2015-16, to examine the relationship between undernutrition in children under five and exposure to excessive rainfall in different parts of India. According to the results, the effects of excessive rainfall are not equally distributed across India, with impacts varying depending on different circumstantial factors.
The authors highlight that exposure to excessive monsoon rainfall in-utero and during the first year increases the risk of undernutrition among children under the age of five, which can impair their long-term growth and development. Furthermore, children living in households without access to safe sanitation facilities were found to face an increased risk of stunting due to heavy monsoon rain. Poor sanitation can contribute to undernutrition, particularly in young children, through the transmission of infections, such as diarrhea.
Read more at International Institute For Applied Systems Analysis
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