This story includes details on the impacts of climate change that may be difficult for some readers. If you are feeling overwhelmed by this crisis situation here is a list of resources on how to cope with fears and feelings about the scope and pace of the climate crisis.
Every facet of human health is prone to the cascading risks of climate change, concludes a special analysis by the Washington Post that followed the distressing scale of human suffering that unfolded in Pakistan after flooding and extreme heat events.
And by 2030, 500 million people around the world will be exposed to such extreme heat for at least a month—“even if they can get out of the sun,” the Post writes, citing an analysis that brought together climate data, scientific studies, and expert interviews, paired with “reporting from some of the places bearing the brunt of Earth’s heating.”
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By 2050, “the number of people suffering from a month of inescapable heat could further grow to a staggering 1.3 billion,” the Post adds. If Pakistan is any example, the future is bleak for poorer countries without some form of urgent international support.
“Pakistan is the epicentre of a new global wave of disease and death linked to climate change,” states the interactive news story. In the face of climate-fueled illnesses linked to hotter temperatures, and swifter passage of pathogens and toxins, “countries across the globe are ill-prepared for the insidious, intensifying risks to almost every facet of human health.”
When waters from a severe flood last September receded, local residents who had protected their homes with sandbags thought they had escaped the worst outcomes. But a deluge of health disasters followed, as temperatures soared and lingering water became contaminated.
“I had no idea what miseries this flood would bring for us,” said Muhammad Yaqoob, chief of a village in Sindh, the hardest-hit province in a disaster that left a third of the country underwater.
The standing water left over from the flood combined with other factors that made it easier for mosquitoes to breed, leading to a rise in malaria. More than three million suspected cases plagued the country after the flood, an increase from 2.6 million in 2021 that reversed decades of progress to reduce the incidence of the disease, says the Post.
Then came a rise in cases of dehydration, heat stress, and miscarriages among pregnant women linked to the fatal effects of heatwaves.
“Miscarriages have been increasing because of the intense heat,” said Zainab Hingoro, a local health care worker. She once would have seen three out of 10 pregnant patients miscarry, but she now sees five to six out of 10. The number of low-birth-weight babies is also “drastically increasing,” she said, as is decreased production of breast milk, blamed on stress from the floods and rising summer temperatures.
As the number of medical cases goes up, health care systems have struggled to keep pace, leaving the country all the more vulnerable. When increased use led to an air conditioning unit shutting down at one hospital, a huge crowd amassed inside and created a “panic-like situation” for patients and health care providers.
According to the Post’s analysis, the number of people exposed to extreme heat each month is rising, with the total for at least a month—especially in places like South Asia and the Middle East—likely to hit 500 million by 2030. Countries with the highest population exposures will include India, with 270 million, followed by Pakistan, at 190 million, 34 million across the Arabian Peninsula, and more than one million each in Mexico and Sudan.
Heat-related mortality will expand dramatically in the coming decades and in the world’s poorest and hottest places, which will in turn worsen inequality, found a group of researchers at the Climate Impact Lab. They projectedthat higher temperatures will lead to “a staggering 150,000 added deaths per year in Pakistan by 2040—unless the country can grow substantially more wealthy and better adapt to frequent bouts of extreme heat,” says the Post.
Pakistan and other developing nations pushed through a breakthrough loss and damage fund at global climate talks last year, where richer countries like the United States—which have emitted the bulk of the world’s greenhouse gases—will rune poorer nations bearing the brunt of the impacts. But details on how the promise will be implemented are still sparse, and many nations may be preoccupied with their own climate adaptation challenges as the crisis grows, says the Post.
But other organizations are also pointing out the toll of extreme heat. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) recently warned that pollution-related health problems will increase, with meteorologists projecting a “vicious cycle” of climate breakdown and air pollution, the Guardian reports. Already, the researchers say, heatwaves have caused spikes in air pollution from both wildfires in the northwestern United States and by desert dust intrusions across Europe.
“Heatwaves worsen air quality, with knock-on effects on human health, ecosystems, agriculture and indeed our daily lives,” said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas. “Climate change and air quality cannot be treated separately. They go hand in hand and must be tackled together to break this vicious cycle.”
