Climate Champions in Pakistan’s Sindh province provide a vital link between communities and essential health care.
Imagine a doctor performing surgery or treating a patient without lights, or a pregnant woman unable to reach a hospital as floodwaters rise. These aren’t hypothetical scenarios; they’re the harsh realities faced by health systems in regions vulnerable to climate emergencies, making consistent, quality healthcare delivery nearly impossible and putting countless lives at risk.
At Pathfinder, we believe in proactive solutions. We’re working hand-in-hand with governments and local partners to build robust health system preparedness, ensuring that vital services endure even when disaster strikes. Our work in Pakistan and Bangladesh offers a powerful testament to this approach.
Severe flooding during the cyclone season destroys health infrastructure in Bangladesh and renders many critical services unavailable. We are working with our partners to change that.
Contingency planning for uninterrupted care
In the two countries, Pathfinder conducted detailed health facility readiness assessments across more than 800 health facilities through our Advancing the Leadership of Women and Girls Towards Better Health and Climate Resilience Program. The findings were clear: infrastructure, supplies, and services are critically vulnerable during climate emergencies, yet few facilities had contingency plans in place.
In Pakistan, we worked with Department of Health, Peoples’ Primary Healthcare Initiative, and the Provincial Disaster Management Authorities in Sindh province on contingency plans for 492 health facilities. These plans ensure continued provision of essential medicines and supplies for nearby communities; clearly define the roles of health facility staff particularly when it comes to responding to disasters; and, ensure referral linkages with public and private health providers, emergency services, disaster management authorities, and climate champions who work in nearby communities.
Similarly, in Bangladesh, after sharing the findings from assessment of 341 health facilities with the government, Pathfinder identified risk mitigation areas. We then worked with Union Disaster Management Committees, facility management committees, women’s groups, and schools to develop community risk reduction and school safety plans, incorporating contingency planning and allocating resources for health facilities to enhance climate-induced disaster preparedness and response.
Through collaborative workshops in both countries, these contingency and disaster risk reduction plans are being incorporated into centralized emergency planning mechanisms managed by district-level government bodies. This ensures the plans are institutionalized, receive government resources, and that health facilities have access to government-managed emergency hotlines and stock lists. Referral mechanisms are also established between public and private health facilities—when services at one clinic are down, another clinic can step in to serve clients in an emergency.
Women’s and adolescents’ voices are heard
A young climate champion working with our program in Bangladesh.
A cornerstone of this strategy is women’s leadership. Across both countries, we’ve mobilized thousands of women—from teens to mothers and grandmothers—who serve as Climate Champions. These Champions have engaged in the contingency planning process. Through their seat on various decision-making bodies in their districts, they have advocated for attention to the health needs of women and girls during climate emergencies.
Due to their involvement, the contingency plans specifically prioritize the continuation of sexual and reproductive health and maternal and newborn health services—often the first services to be disrupted when a crisis hits. These women bridge the gap between communities and health facilities, bringing vital community perspectives to facility-based services and connecting residents with the care they need.
Liza Akter with her baby girl in front of her house in Natore, Bangladesh.
At the same time, women in communities are developing household contingency plans for access to safe delivery and sexual and reproductive health care during crises. This includes identifying facilities for safe deliveries and services, piling emergency stocks of contraceptives and other supplies, saving money, having the government’s emergency hotline number available, and connecting with Climate Champions working in their communities.
Building enduring resilience
The contingency and risk reduction action plans in each country are already bolstering disaster preparedness within the local government, health facilities, and communities. In Bangladesh, for example, we’ve seen tangible results: water supply systems are being restored, washrooms at health facilities reconstructed, and critical roads repaired. The local government is supporting the delivery of furniture, and essential equipment, commodities, and medicine.
The impact of the Climate Champions is also clear; community health workers in Pakistan are now regularly visiting a community that previously lacked access to health services, all thanks to the advocacy of a local Climate Champion. They are advocating for their communities’ needs through their roles in district leadership forums.
These initiatives are not just about responding to crises; they are about proactively building the overall emergency response capacity of health care systems, establishing women’s social ownership of their futures. We know that investing in preparedness is investing in stability, health, and resilient communities.
