Brief communication: Drought economic assessments must include human health impacts

Abstract

Drought economic assessments tend to focus on productive sectors, such as agriculture, livestock and industry, while providing limited attention to human-health effects of drought. The economic valuation of drought-related health interventions reveals that ensuring groundwater access during severe droughts could avert significant losses in Northeast Brazil. Estimated benefits from reduced diarrhea hospitalizations and mortality total 9.92 % of local GDP. When scaled to state level, avoidable losses may reach USD 1.15 billion, which are comparable to the economic drought's impacts on productive sectors, underscoring the macroeconomic relevance of investing in resilient water infrastructure in a health-promoting perspective.