Spatial pattern of multidimensional poverty, household environmental deprivation and short term morbidity in urban India

The relationship of poverty, household environment and health is complex and context specific. There are a few studies that explore the linkages of poverty, household environment and health in urban India. Using the unit data from Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS), 2004-05 that covered over 40,000 households, this paper examines the linkages of poverty, environmental deprivations and short term morbidities (fever, cough and diarrhoea) in urban India. Poverty is measured in a multidimensional framework by incorporating dimensions of knowledge, income and employment, while environmental deprivation is measured using basic sanitation, cooking fuel and drinking water. A composite index combining multidimensional poverty and environmental deprivation is computed and classified as; multidimensional poor and poor environment, multidimensional poor and good environment, multidimensional non-poor and poor environment, and multidimensional non-poor and good environment. Controlling for socio-economic covariates, compared to those who are multidimensional non-poor and living in good environment, the odds ratio of having fever was 1.44 [CI: 1.34-1.56] among those multidimensional poor and poor environment, 1.33 [CI: 1.20-1.47] among those multidimensional non-poor but living in poor environment and similar for cough and diarrhoea.