In early March 2025, news broke in the Philippines that nearly 40 students from one high school experienced heat exhaustion while at school, prompting local officials to shift to blended classes. The school nurse provided first aid, but she and the school administrators admitted they were caught unprepared by the unexpected early start of the heat wave season. Last year, heat wave-induced school closures occurred in April. Unfortunately, no heat response plans have been developed since then.
This incident highlights a growing reality: The climate crisis is reshaping environments where families and communities live, work, and study. In the past 25 years, heat waves have claimed lives in Australia, China, and South Korea, among others.
The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change warns that half of the world’s population lives in climate-vulnerable places, where they are 15 times more likely to die from cyclones, drought, and floods. A U.N. Development Programme report estimated that in 2022, extreme weather events in the Asia-Pacific region affected over 64 million people and caused more than 7,500 deaths.
About the authors
Rocel Ann Junio-Balbutin
Rocel Ann Junio-Balbutin is a strategic communication specialist and public health practitioner whose research focuses on the role of the health workforce in addressing climate and health issues. She previously worked for international organizations, including the World Health Organization and Médecins Sans Frontières. She obtained her master’s in Public Health degree at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
Dr. Renzo Guinto
Dr. Renzo Guinto is an associate professor and lead of the planetary health initiative at the SingHealth Duke-NUS Global Health Institute in Singapore. An adviser to the Philippine Climate Change Commission and the World Health Organization, he works on various climate-health issues, such as climate impacts on mental health and climate-induced migration, among others. He obtained his Doctor of Public Health from Harvard University.
