The Health Impacts of Severe Climate Shocks in Colombia

This analytical paper published by Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) studies the link between severe weather shocks in Colombia and municipality-level incidence of dengue and malaria. The unexpectedly high variability of the 2010 rainfalls relative to previous periods and their regional heterogeneity are exploited as an identification strategy. The results confirm that the relationship between climate events and vector-borne diseases is intricate. The 2010 weather shocks are associated with not only an increase in the number of dengue cases but also with a decrease in its incidence (particularly in the presence of extreme rain events). Floods seem to have decreased the number of dengue cases.