Measuring pandemic preparedness of households in Indian cities: What does NSS data tell us?

Kundu, D. and Kar, B. and Debnath, T. (2024) Measuring pandemic preparedness of households in Indian cities: What does NSS data tell us? Regional Science Policy & Practice, 16 (7).

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Abstract

The outbreak of pandemic at the beginning of 2020 has been urban exclusive and brought the existing inequalities across class and different types of settlements into the forefront. A prolonged period of lockdown, promotion of social distancing, and quarantine of infected individuals, which had been recommended as preventive measures raises a question on the feasibility of these measures in Indian cities considering the challenges related to adequate housing and exclusive access to basic amenities. Against this background, this paper tries to understand the level of pandemic preparedness of urban households across different socio-economic groups, city-size, and settlement types and its changes in the last two decades based on an analysis of unit level data from the National Sample Survey (NSS). The paper has attempted to construct a ‘Pandemic Preparedness Index’ (PPI) to measure a household's ability to maintain isolation and social distancing. Results indicate that urban households have become more prepared for such pandemics over this period. However, the poor and slum households, particularly located in metropolitan cities still face multiple deprivations related to housing and basic amenities, which make them more vulnerable to such pandemics. This paper calls for urban household's pandemic and disaster preparedness with an increased policy focus on poor and slum households in metropolitan cities. © 2024 The Authors

Item Type: Article
Authors: Kundu, D. and Kar, B. and Debnath, T.
Document Language:
Language
English
Uncontrolled Keywords: Pandemic preparedness, Indian cities, Housing, Basic amenities
Subjects: Social sciences
Social sciences > Social problems & services
Social sciences > Social problems & services > Public health
Divisions: Azim Premji University - Bhopal > Education
Full Text Status: None
Related URLs:
URI: http://publications.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/id/eprint/6530
Publisher URL: https://www.regionalscience.org/

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