Temperature and non‐communicable diseases: Evidence from Indonesia's primary health care system

Artikel

Climate change induced rising temperatures will pose a detrimental threat to decent health in the coming decades. Especially at risk are individuals with chronic diseases, since heat can exacerbate a variety of health conditions. In this article, I examine the heat‐morbidity relationship in the context of Indonesia, focusing on chronic, non‐communicable diseases, namely diabetes, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Using a novel dataset from the Indonesian national health insurance scheme Jaminan Kesehatan Nasional/Badan Penyelenggara Jaminan Sosial (BPJS) and linking it with meteorological data on the daily‐district level, I estimate the causal effect of high temperatures on the daily number of primary health care visits. The results show that on a hot day all‐cause visits and visits with a diagnosis of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases increase by 8%, 25% and 14%, respectively. These increases are permanent and not offset by visit displacement or 'harvesting'. Visits related to respiratory diseases seem not to be affected by high temperatures. I use several climate change scenarios to predict the increase in visits and costs by the end of the century, which all forecast a substantial financial burden for the health care system. These results might have relevance for other middle‐income countries with similar climatic conditions.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Journal: Health Economics ; ISSN: 1099-1050 ; Volume: 31 ; Year: 2022 ; Issue: 11 ; Pages: 2445-2464 ; Hoboken, NJ: Wiley

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft
• Subject: climate change ; health ; Indonesia ; JKN/BPJS kesehatan ; non‐communicable diseases ; temperature

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Fritz, Manuela
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Wiley
• (where): Hoboken, NJ
• (when): 2022

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.1002/hec.4590
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/266783
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET