Now Reading: India among top nations for heatwave exposure of infants, elderly: Lancet
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India among top nations for heatwave exposure of infants, elderly: Lancet
India among top nations for heatwave exposure of infants, elderly: Lancet
The Story in Brief
India ranks among the top countries for heatwave exposure of both infants and older adults, alongside China, the US and Russia, the 10th Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change report says.
Globally, heatwave exposure in 2025 was the second highest on record: older adults faced 10.8 billion person-days of heatwaves, infants 1.1 billion. In 2023 alone heat was linked to a record 710,000 estimated deaths, 71.5% driven by climate change, the report states. People in India lost an estimated 64 hours of sleep annually between 2021 and 2025 due to high night-time temperatures, Hindustan Times separately reports.
The report calls for climate change to be formally declared a global health emergency and for health to be placed at the centre of every climate decision. It will be presented at COP31.
Indian Opinion Analysis
CNBC-TV18, Business Standard and Siasat carry closely similar versions of the Lancet Countdown report, leading with India's ranking among top countries for heatwave exposure of infants and older adults and the global heatwave-day figures. Hindustan Times leads instead with a 36% rise in climate-linked heat deaths since the Paris Agreement, and adds India-specific data on lost sleep and heat stress hours that the other three omit. The net effect is that Hindustan Times frames the story through accelerating mortality and local consequences, while the others foreground the heatwave-exposure metric. The four sources agree on the core findings, including the call for a global health emergency declaration. The Lancet report presents 54 indicators including four new ones covering water availability, healthcare emissions, research funding and legislative engagement. COP31 is the stated next forum.
Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral
Sources (2): PTI (carried by cnbctv18.com, business-standard.com, siasat.com), hindustantimes.com (neutral report)
This brief was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Methodology and corrections.
