Title: Linking Climate, Health Policy, and Health: Working with Geospatial Data from India’s NFHS
Abstract: This lecture introduces the opportunities and challenges of using latitude and longitude data from India’s National Family Health Survey (NFHS), part of the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) program. We begin with basic cross-sectional regressions using the temperature indicators available for the 2015–16 survey. Drawing on a case study from an ongoing research project, I will demonstrate how external temperature and rainfall data can be linked to NFHS observations and combined with policy variation to explore relationships between climate exposure, policy, and health outcomes. The talk presents our analytical approach and preliminary findings, followed by a discussion of data limitations, geographic displacement, exposure measurement, and challenges to causal interpretation. We conclude by reflecting on where the project stands and what further work would be needed to advance the analysis.