Flood hazards and health: responding to present and future risks

With the tragedy of New Orleans still on the focus of the world’s media, this highly topical book combines rigorous analysis of the human health impacts of flooding with an appraisal of individual and societal response to those risks, and sets these findings in light of potential future increases in flood hazard as a result of climate change. Findings from epidemiological, environmental, social and institutional studies are brought together, with analysis rooted in an approach that emphasizes the developmental as well as environmental causes of flood risk and the socially differentiated nature of vulnerability and coping capacity. A detailed discussion of the global health impacts of floods and the nature of human response to the health risks posed is reinforced by new research evidence on specific health aspects of floods covering mental health, water and sanitation, local level responses and the responses of health systems.