A national study published on 28 November 2025 in PLOS One found that India’s climate-vulnerable districts face sharper health impacts. Women and children in these regions show poorer nutrition and reduced access to healthcare, raising concerns about progress toward SDGs.

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•  Study links climate vulnerability with poorer health outcomes
•  Data analysed from 575 rural districts across India
•  Sample: 154k children and 447k women
•  High-risk districts show more child stunting, wasting, underweight
•  Women in vulnerable regions more likely to deliver outside facilities
•  Climate stress deepens existing poverty, nutrition and healthcare gaps
•  Heatwaves, erratic monsoons worsening rural distress
•  37% children stunted; 33% underweight in surveyed data
•  Rising disease, heat stress increase health inequity
•  Study urges climate-informed health planning and stronger local systems