KARACHI – October 9, 2026: Panelists and international experts at the 8th Biennial Conference (ICON 2026), organized by Indus Hospital & Health Network (IHHN), delivered a unanimous declaration today: “A climate-resilient city is ultimately a healthy city.”
Addressing a high-level panel discussion titled “ Climate Change, Urban Issues and Health Management” in the Main Foyer Area, leading environmental specialists, medical academics, government officials, and media experts highlighted the severe breakdown in urban planning across Pakistan and called for immediate cross-sectoral accountability, evidence-based policymaking, a centralized co-created think-tank, and active media engagement.
The session was moderated by Dr. Sohail Akhtar, Pulmonologist at IHHN, with a panel comprising Mr. Faisal Ahmed Uqaili, Secretary, Environment, Climate Change & Coastal Development Department, Govt. of Sindh, Dr. Zafar Zaidi, Dean, Indus University of Health Sciences, Dr. Zafar Fatmi , Professor & Section Head, Environmental, Occupational Health and Injuries, AKU, Ms. Afia Salam , Media Consultant and Environment Specialist, and Dr. Paul Charlton, Climate Medicine Expert and Co-founder, Healthy Climate (affiliated with the University of Colorado, USA).
Opening the dialogue, Mr. Faisal Ahmed Uqaili underscored the administrative fragmentation and unplanned expansion hindering climate adaptation in Sindh’s capital. “Karachi’s infrastructure has become mostly unplanned as hundreds of housing schemes emerge without proper civil utilities,” Mr. Uqaili noted. “The city is currently run by 26 different administrative agencies, creating excessive disconnects. Until all stakeholders sit on the same page, change cannot be expected.” Highlighting institutional gaps, Mr. Uqaili stressed that climate and health are “big-ticket items” requiring a co-created Think-Tank bringing together government, academia, and civil society to review data jointly and build evidence-based solutions.
Addressing the severe health impact of poor planning, Dr. Zafar Zaidi warned that Karachi’s failure to design urban environments leads directly to worse health outcomes, including surges in vector-borne diseases like malaria, cardiovascular complications, and severe sewage contamination. “We have failed in terms of planning, but we must start now by identifying clear accountabilities and responsibilities,” Dr. Zaidi stated. “Every intervention must be researched with a long-term vision—asking what will benefit the next two generations.”
Addressing policy lags, Dr. Zafar Fatmi revealed that Sindh’s health policy was only recently updated after remaining stagnant since 2010. “Academia’s primary output is publication, but policy impact requires academia and government to jointly frame problem statements,” Dr. Fatmi explained, emphasizing the need to bridge the multisectoral policy gaps within state institutions.
Dr. Paul Charlton pointed to international frameworks such as the Lancet Countdown toolkit, which equips healthcare professionals (HCPs) to collaborate with policymakers in high-density, climate-vulnerable cities like those in Pakistan. “There are proven, evidence-based solutions globally,” Dr. Charlton emphasized. “Healthcare professionals need to analyze health costs, receive formal training to communicate with media and government leadership, and actively showcase Pakistan’s climate-health data on global platforms.”
Highlighting positive shifts in governance, Ms. Afia Salam noted that government departments are beginning to collaborate, as seen in recent pre-monsoon cross-departmental exercises. However, she urged policymakers to pay urgent attention to practical climate impacts on vulnerable groups—such as school children exposed to heatwaves during peak afternoon hours and Lady Health Workers (LHWs) whose field functionality is severely compromised by extreme heat.
Addressing media dynamics, Ms. Salam and the panel noted that mainstream media faces institutional barriers when state entities withhold critical data. To counter this, Dr. Zafar Fatmi advocated for specialized health communication workshops for journalists, while Dr. Zafar Zaidi emphasized translating complex climate findings into local, accessible languages and empowering youth to drive climate awareness.