Climate Change and Women Health Nexus: Evidence from District Gujranwala

Abstract

Climate change is one of the main challenges that affect human health. This study focused on the changing climate patterns and women's health in District Gujranwala, Punjab, Pakistan. This study used logistic regression for a sample size of 350 ever-married women and the data were collected (Jan, 2019-Mar, 2019) using convenience sampling. In univariate analysis, it found that, out of 350 sampled female participants, there were 66.3% of women who have good physical health and 51.70% have their own health care decision. However, 67.40% of women’s health was affected by changing patterns of weather, 30.60% of women suffered a lot due to air pollution, 39.40% were affected by high temperature, and 2.3% by floods, 04.90% by drought, 03.40% by short & intense rains, 05.10% by dry spells and 71.70% were harmed by climate change. The results of logistic regression analysis depicted that the married women have 3.265 times more chances to have good physical health as compared to the women whose marital status is currently separate. The women affected by smoke/smog/blur vision due to the air pollution, have 3.912 times more chances to have bad physical health. The woman interviewed at the household has 1.88 times more chances to have good physical health as compared to those women who were interviewed at the workplace. This study concludes that the climate changes (increasing rate of heat, dry spells, non-forecasted rains and some other factors) affect women's health severely.