Bangkok, October 13 – The year 2024 was officially the hottest ever recorded, and nowhere did its impacts hit harder than in Asia and the Pacific. Temperatures soared to 53°C in parts of South and Southeast Asia, while between December 2024 and February 2025, six of the eleven global cities enduring extreme heat for over a month were in this region. Experts warn that this is not an isolated phenomenon, but a glimpse of a rapidly intensifying future driven by the global climate crisis.
The record-breaking heat has underscored a grim reality: the climate crisis is also a health crisis. Cities across Asia and the Pacific home to hundreds of millions are increasingly battling extreme heat, worsening air pollution, and the spread of climate-sensitive diseases like dengue and malaria. These growing pressures are straining already fragile health systems and exacerbating inequalities, particularly for those living and working in informal sectors.
At a recent consultation in Bangkok organized by Climate Resilience for All, women informal workers described the harsh realities of working through unbearable heat. One worker from Thailand said her need to earn a daily wage “burns brighter than the sun,” reflecting the painful dilemma faced by millions forced to choose between income and health. Studies show that exposure to extreme heat heightens risks of respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, heatstroke, and even miscarriage, especially for those who cannot afford protection or rest.
The crisis extends far beyond heatwaves. The World Health Organization estimates that 90 percent of people in Asia and the Pacific breathe air unsafe by global standards. Over 500 million people still lack access to basic water supplies, and the region is projected to face a 5 to 20 percent rise in drought frequency by the end of the century. Moreover, 70 percent of the global population vulnerable to sea-level rise lives here, including residents of six of the world’s largest coastal megacities.
Asia and the Pacific also experience an average of six natural disasters a year three times the frequency seen in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2022 alone, extreme weather events killed 7,500 people, affected 64 million others, and caused an estimated US$57 billion in economic losses. Warmer temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns are driving mosquitoes and disease vectors into new areas, including dense urban centres, putting more people at risk of infections like dengue and malaria.
Despite these overlapping threats, health remains a neglected aspect of climate adaptation. Less than one percent of global climate finance currently goes toward protecting health systems.
Recognizing this gap, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is stepping up its work in the region. In 2024, it supported 72 health-related projects, many focused on the intersection of climate and health. Through partnerships with the Green Climate Fund, the Global Environment Facility, the Clean Air Fund, the Government of Japan, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and Gavi, UNDP is helping countries strengthen climate-resilient health systems. The agency is also developing new financing models that link climate investments directly to public health outcomes.
However, experts say that lasting change will require more than targeted projects. Cities must integrate health into climate planning by strengthening primary healthcare, ensuring continuity of care during disasters, expanding early warning systems, and investing in cooling infrastructure. Equally vital is amplifying the voices of those most affected women, youth, informal workers, and persons with disabilities so that adaptation strategies reflect real community needs.
Asia and the Pacific now stand at a defining crossroads. The region is both the frontline of climate impacts and a source of innovation and resilience. The choices governments make today in how they invest, plan, and protect will determine whether future cities become centres of safety and health or hotbeds of inequality and risk.
In a world growing hotter each year, the message is clear: resilience must burn brighter than the sun.