The effect of adaptive capacity to malaria on subjective welfare in Ghana

There is a significant correlation between ​climate variability and the incidence of climate-sensitive diseases such as malaria. This has implications for the welfare of households affected by malaria especially in resource-poor communities. Vulnerability and resilience underpin adaptive capacity to malaria, hence understanding the relationship between the latter and welfare is critical for social welfare policy formulation. Yet, the relationship between the adaptive capacity of households and the subjective evaluation of their welfare has not been adequately explored by previous studies. We adopt the theoretical framework developed by van Praag (1968) to investigate this relationship among the urban poor in Accra, Ghana. We found that, to equalize subjective welfare across households with heterogenous adaptive capacities to malaria, those with low adaptive capacity require higher income compared to their counterparts who have high adaptive capacity. Furthermore, households that receive social support require a lower level of income, compared to those who give support and those who neither give nor receive support, to reach the same level of verbal quantification of welfare.