Climate Change and Health Care Vulnerability in South East Asia: A Review

Climate change is no more just as an environmental issue but is a rising threat for human health. South East Asia region, home to nearly two billion people, is prone to natural disasters, disease outbreaks and health risks of climate change. This study explores vulnerability of SEA region relating to extreme weather events, existing public health infrastructures and maternal and child mortality. Data for this study was collected from WHO data respiratory, World Bank data archive, Germanwatch and Notre Dame Environmental Change Initiative. As exploratory study, summary statistics, and both cross sectional and time series plots are used. It is evident that countries in this region are highly exposed to extreme weather events with low adaptive capacity and thus are more vulnerable to climate change than countries in other regions. The regional universal health coverage index is considerably lower than the global average. Everyday a certain proportion of the population becomes economically vulnerable as pushed below the poverty line to maintain excess household health expenditure due to increasing out-of-pocket spending. We also found that there is a lack of antenatal care and skilled birth attendance, maternal and child mortality is in increased proportion. Climate change and health care vulnerability documented in this study would assist the Governments and regional leaders to identify the areas to be improved for readiness to the anticipated climate change.