ISLAMABAD: Pakistani health experts on Friday urged stronger heat alerts and safer hospitals, warning that climate change in Pakistan increasingly threatens public health.
The advisory calls followed the 2026 Lancet Countdown report, which urged governments to recognise climate change as a global health emergency.
The report found that average annual heat-related deaths had risen 36% worldwide since the Paris Agreement. It estimated 710,000 heat-related deaths in 2023, attributing more than 70% to human-caused climate change.
Extreme heat also caused an estimated $1.07 trillion in potential lost earnings worldwide during 2025 by reducing people’s capacity to work.
Former Punjab health minister Professor Dr Javed Akram criticised Pakistan’s disaster planning as reactive rather than preventive.
He pointed to the 2022 floods, which damaged health facilities and disrupted access to essential medicines. Communities also faced greater risks of waterborne diseases and malnutrition.
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Akram called for heat action plans, early-warning systems, safer hospitals and stronger disease surveillance. He urged federal and provincial governments to allocate dedicated funding for climate-resilient healthcare.
Former special assistant to the prime minister on health Dr Zafar Mirza warned that extreme weather and worsening air quality were harming public health. Mirza called for closer coordination among health, climate, water, energy and finance authorities.
Professor Dr Muhammad Irfan Khan, a former dean at International Islamic University, criticised Pakistan’s absence from the Lancet Countdown’s launch statement.
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He cited Germanwatch’s Climate Risk Index 2025, which ranked Pakistan as the country most affected by extreme weather in 2022.
Khan urged international institutions to give vulnerable countries greater visibility and involve affected communities in climate research and investment decisions.
