Conference Program

Pakistan is one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries. As a low-and-middle-income country facing multiple challenges such as corruption, a weak economy, poverty, and patriarchy, women in Pakistan are disproportionately vulnerable to climate-induced disasters. Heatwaves are slow-onset climate events that remain widely under-researched in the South Asian region. This qualitative exploratory research uses semi-structured interviews to understand how women in low-income communities in Pakistan experience heatwaves and how extreme heat shapes their health outcomes. Using Karachi’s Korangi District as the study site, I interviewed Lady Health Workers. These interviews provided insights into how women in low-income communities perceive heatwaves and how they protect themselves from heat-related physical, mental, and socio-emotional challenges. Data was analyzed using MaxQDA24. The findings highlight challenges women face due to intersecting sociocultural and socioeconomic factors, alongside the ways in which they adapt to the changing climate. The research shows that extreme heat, combined with pre-existing socioeconomic vulnerabilities and sociocultural norms, exacerbates women’s physical and mental health outcomes. Women respond to these challenges through faith-based coping, positive mindsets, and collective care. The study further demonstrates how heat-related hardships are intensified by financial constraints and weak heat governance, with power outages emerging as a central concern. Gender further compounds vulnerability, as restricted mobility, limited decision-making power, and burden of care increase women’s exposure to extreme heat. These findings can inform governments, policymakers, and NGOs in South Asia in designing gender-responsive programs to educate, protect, and rehabilitate women from climate-related health risks, and inform support structures accordingly.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of death and disability in the Philippines. Robust health systems are critical for the treatment of NCDs as they require consistent access to healthcare. However, complex challenges in health system capacity have been evident in the Philippines’ health system due to decentralization and a dual public and private health delivery system. Climate change has the potential to further disrupt the capacity for NCD treatment due to a projected increase in the severity and frequency of extreme weather events. Due to the high prevalence of NCDs, health system complexity, and high disaster risk in the Philippines, there is a need to examine the health system capacity for NCD care in the context of climate change. This research was conducted in collaboration with International Care Ministries, a non-governmental organization which focuses on poverty alleviation. One-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with 34 health care workers consisting of barangay health workers, rural health midwives, nurses, and medical officers across nine municipalities in Leyte, Philippines. Findings highlight existing limitations in health workforce and health financing which make it difficult to implement and sustain efforts that educate communities about NCD prevention. Further, health service delivery is influenced by extreme weather, resulting in delayed services that monitor and treat NCDs. This research can influence adaptive strategies for collaboration by highlighting possible entry points to enhance NCD care and improve resilience of health systems amid a changing climate.

Global warming has created serious skin issues among the rural citizen and requires significant attention from the policy maker to take urgent actions, but so far, rare attention has been paid in rural areas. Hence, this study aims to examine the impacts of global warming on the skin diseases among poor citizen in rural areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan. It also inspects the mediating role of injustice in governance between global warming and the skin diseases. Data were collected in quantitative way through questionnaire-based survey from the rural citizen (patients of skin) in rural areas of KPK, Pakistan. The collected data were analyzed through Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to find results. The study found that the global warming has created serious health issues like skin diseases, respiratory diseases, cancers, decreased lung function, and asthma among the rural citizens of KPK, Pakistan. The study also found that the injustice in governance mediates the relationship between global warming and the skin diseases among rural citizen of KPK, Pakistan. The results have interesting implications for policy, environmental regulators, and elucidate the practitioners understanding to define more stable environmental policies, make sure a fair governance to control the skin diseases and build more sustainable societies. Even, prior studies have paid wide attention to the global warming, skin diseases, governance, but this is the first study in these domains.

The industrial pollution has created serious health issues among communities, raised fingers toward industries, and evolved regulators to take active actions but rare attention has been paid in rural areas. Hence, this study aims to examine the impacts of industrial pollution on the health of poor citizen in rural areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan. It also inspects the mediating role of injustice in financial assistance between the industrial pollution and health issues. Data were collected in quantitative way

through questionnaire-based survey from the rural citizen in the surroundings of industrial zones and the sites of oil and gas extraction companies in rural areas of KPK, Pakistan. The collected data were analyzed through Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to find results. The study found that the industrial pollution has created serious health issues like respiratory diseases, cancers, decreased lung function, and asthma among the rural citizens of KPK, Pakistan. The study also found that the injustice in financial assistance mediates the relationship between the industrial pollution and health issues among rural citizen of KPK, Pakistan. The results have interesting implications for policy, environmental regulators, and elucidate the practitioners understanding to define more stable environmental policies, make sure the fair distribution of financial aids among the rural areas to control the health issues and infectious diseases, and build more sustainable societies. Even, prior studies have paid wide attention to the industrial pollution, health issues, financial assistance, but this is the first study in these domains.