Estimating Economic Costs of Waterborne Diseases: a Case Study of Punjab Province, Pakistan

Pakistan is a South Asian country with a population of over 160 million. The Punjab Province constitutes almost half of this population. In the last decade, Pakistan achieved sizeable economic growth rate but same was hampered by many factors such as increasing population, poverty and ever increasing environmental pollution. As a result diseases are prevalent in the country and multiplying day by day (one such addition is the Dengue fever in 2011-12 that has horribly haunted the citizens of Lahore). Among other diseases, waterborne diseases remain at the top because of increasing environmental degradation. According to World Bank, Pakistan's infant and child mortality rate is the highest in South Asian region with prevalence of childhood diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections both associated with poor environmental quality and water contamination. Furthermore, Pakistan has emerged as the most populated and urbanized country in South Asia where more than one third of its population is living in towns and cities. This book attempts to analyse the cost of illness associated with waterborne diseases in the Punjab Province alongside calculating its impacts on the country's economy.