The research shows that heat is no longer just an environmental threat, but a growing public health emergency unfolding inside women’s bodies and homes.
Published Dec 11, 2025 | 7:00 AM ⚊ Updated Dec 11, 2025 | 7:02 AM
Women Working at a brick kiln. (iStock)
Synopsis: A recent study found that extreme heat is triggering serious physical, reproductive and mental health problems among women across India, with rural and informal workers carrying the heaviest burden. At the same time, chronic underfunding, overburdened facilities, and insufficient workforce capacity leave primary care systems ill-prepared to handle heat-related stress.
A recent study by the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) in Chennai found that extreme heat is triggering serious physical, reproductive and mental health problems among women across India’s most heat-vulnerable states, with rural and informal workers carrying the heaviest burden.
Covering Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bihar, Odisha, Telangana and Tamil Nadu, the research shows that heat is no longer just an environmental threat, but a growing public health emergency unfolding inside women’s bodies and homes.
However, for frontline doctors and public health researchers, these findings are not surprising.
Speaking to South First, Aatmika G, a public health researcher at Association for Socially Applicable Research (ASAR), explained that women in southern states like Tamil Nadu and Telangana often face systemic barriers in accessing timely healthcare.
“It’s not just a matter of women choosing not to seek care. The health system itself has historically struggled to meet the population’s needs,” she said.
Chronic underfunding, overburdened facilities, and insufficient workforce capacity leave primary care systems ill-prepared to handle heat-related stress.
Intense agricultural labour during peak heat months also forces women to choose between work and healthcare, often at the cost of wage loss or productivity.
The presence of humidity in southern states slowly and insidiously creates physiological stress, meaning women quietly endure chronic health impacts until they reach a breaking point, she highlighted.
In clinical settings, doctors said heat-related complications are becoming increasingly visible in women’s everyday health.
Dr Sreeja Rani, Senior Consultant Obstetrics & Gynaecology at Kinder Women’s Hospital and Fertility Centre, Bengaluru, said prolonged heat exposure and dehydration are leading to a rise in urinary tract infections among working women.
“When women don’t drink enough water and work long hours in the sun, it causes repeated urinary infections,” she told South First. “If left untreated, these infections can move up to the kidneys and become serious.”
She added that electrolyte imbalances and heat exhaustion are common among women engaged in outdoor labour, and that heat can also complicate pregnancies.
“Heatwaves and dehydration can reduce the amniotic fluid around the baby. This directly affects pregnancy health,” Dr Rani explained.
She also cautioned that many women delay seeking care for reproductive infections. “We see a lot of untreated infections, especially in lower-income groups. Women come to the hospital only when the fever is severe or the pain becomes unbearable.”
She clarified that menstrual bleeding itself is not caused by heat, but that heavy or irregular bleeding is often ignored until women become severely anaemic and physically exhausted.
According to her, poor sanitation, lack of access to hygienic menstrual products and reuse of unclean cloths further increase the risk of infections.
Extreme heat is also triggering serious mental health risks for women, particularly in southern states, said Dr Nilesh Mohite, Community Psychiatrist. “In my clinical work across rural and urban India, women report intense anxiety, irritability, chronic sleep loss and cognitive fatigue during prolonged heat exposure.”
He explained that, unlike northern India, where heatwaves are shorter but more intense, southern regions face more chronic heat stress, which leads to persistent emotional exhaustion, mood instability and prolonged cognitive slowdown.
Housing and daily living conditions play a major role. According to Dr Mohite, overcrowded homes, unreliable electricity and the heavy burden of unpaid domestic and caregiving work accelerate emotional burnout among women.
“Poorly ventilated homes combined with continuous caregiving create sustained psychological strain,” he said, pointing out that in many northern regions, lower humidity and shorter heat-stress periods slightly reduce this prolonged burden.
Dr Mohite also highlighted a visible link between rising temperatures and domestic violence. “During peak summer, I see an increase in domestic violence cases. Heat lowers tolerance and increases aggression, especially when combined with financial stress and substance use,” he noted.
Women in such environments often present with trauma symptoms such as hypervigilance, panic attacks and severe sleep disturbances, particularly in overcrowded, poorly ventilated homes without cooling access.
He warned that families often fail to recognise early psychological danger signs. Sudden social withdrawal, persistent irritability, panic episodes, confusion and extreme sleep deprivation should be treated as red flags.
“Simple steps like ensuring hydration, creating cooler resting spaces and reducing women’s workload can help, but early medical support becomes critical if symptoms escalate,” Dr Mohite added.
From a systems perspective, public health experts warned that these medical realities are unfolding inside a structurally weakened healthcare system.
Aatmika said that even where states have strong heat and climate-informed health plans, there is a gap between policy and practice. “On paper, plans outline outreach clinics and coordination between sectors, but in reality, these remain largely unimplemented,” she said.
Low health budgets and lack of systemic support prevent frontline workers from delivering timely services, particularly during heatwaves, when other illnesses also spike.
She stressed that strengthening health systems under heat stress requires intersectoral governance and sustained funding.
“A system serving the population cannot afford to fail during extreme weather. This requires multisectoral ownership beyond the health department,” she said.
She called for a shift from reactive to responsive health systems. “We need timely information, a trained workforce and the right tools. Vulnerability and adaptation assessments must begin within the system, with facility audits to identify and address gaps.”
She also noted that financial protection schemes, such as cash benefits for women in outdoor work, could reduce the trade-offs women face between seeking healthcare and earning wages.
Ultimately, she emphasised, the responsibility for mitigating heat-related health risks should not rest solely on women.
“The health system, government and society must enable women to access care safely and without financial burden,” she said.
The study called for urgent strengthening of India’s health system to address the gendered impacts of extreme heat.
It recommended training frontline health workers to identify heat-related reproductive and mental health risks, and making these part of routine screening, instead of limiting care to heatstroke and dehydration.
It also emphasised the need for heat-resilient health infrastructure, including shaded waiting areas, reliable ventilation, cooling and access to drinking water, along with stronger implementation of Heat Action Plans through a gender lens.
The study urged workplace protections for women in informal sectors and better community-level communication strategies to reach low-income and heat-vulnerable women.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
