There has been much media focus on the monsoon season in India this year largely on account of the large-scale devastation in parts. Beginning with the cyclonic storm Biparjoy that formed over the Arabian Sea in June and which made landfall in western India, to the floods in the north-eastern State of Assam, and the recent episodes of heavy rain and devastation in parts of north India, the subject has been a matter of concern especially for policymakers.
Even as the process of getting back to normal life is in various stages, we must not lose sight of another looming challenge. Common water and vector-borne diseases such as typhoid, cholera, dysentery, leptospirosis, malaria, and dengue are likely to impact people in rain-affected areas. Conditions in these areas are most likely to be conducive for the spread of water and vector-borne diseases.
While every section of the population is affected in different ways as a result of extreme climate events, there is no doubt that households in urban areas, particularly in less developed parts of a city such as slums and urban settlement colonies, are likely to be the most vulnerable groups. A large majority of people in these slums and resettlement colonies live in poverty, working in the informal sector of the urban economy with no social security benefits.
