Water-Borne Diseases and Extreme Weather Events in Cambodia: Review of Impacts and Implications of Climate Change

Grace I. Davies, Lachlan McIver, Yoonhee Kim, Masahiro Hashizume, Steven Iddings and Vibol Chan
Additional contact information
Grace I. Davies: Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3800, Australia
Lachlan McIver: National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra, A.C.T. 2601, Australia
Yoonhee Kim: Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan
Masahiro Hashizume: Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan
Steven Iddings: World Health Organization, Cambodia Country Office, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Vibol Chan: World Health Organization, Cambodia Country Office, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

IJERPH, 2014, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-23

Abstract: Cambodia is prone to extreme weather events, especially floods, droughts and typhoons. Climate change is predicted to increase the frequency and intensity of such events. The Cambodian population is highly vulnerable to the impacts of these events due to poverty; malnutrition; agricultural dependence; settlements in flood-prone areas, and public health, governance and technological limitations. Yet little is known about the health impacts of extreme weather events in Cambodia. Given the extremely low adaptive capacity of the population, this is a crucial knowledge gap. A literature review of the health impacts of floods, droughts and typhoons in Cambodia was conducted, with regional and global information reviewed where Cambodia-specific literature was lacking. Water-borne diseases are of particular concern in Cambodia, in the face of extreme weather events and climate change, due to, inter alia, a high pre-existing burden of diseases such as diarrhoeal illness and a lack of improved sanitation infrastructure in rural areas. A time-series analysis under quasi-Poisson distribution was used to evaluate the association between floods and diarrhoeal disease incidence in Cambodian children between 2001 and 2012 in 16 Cambodian provinces. Floods were significantly associated with increased diarrhoeal disease in two provinces, while the analysis conducted suggested a possible protective effect from toilets and piped water. Addressing the specific, local pre-existing vulnerabilities is vital to promoting population health resilience and strengthening adaptive capacity to extreme weather events and climate change in Cambodia.

Keywords: flood; drought; extreme weather event; climate change; Cambodia; health; water-borne disease; diarrhoea (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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