Health and the Body
How do medical practitioners conceptualize heat and related health risks? How are these risks understood in relation to categories such as gender, age, and socioeconomic status? How could public health conversations be shifted and expanded?
In June 2015, Karachi experienced a week-long heatwave –the deadliest to hit Pakistan in over 50 years – resulting in 1,181 deaths. Even though the event sparked extensive conversation about the city’s collapsing healthcare infrastructure, little research has been carried out so far to understand healthcare professionals’s views and narratives on the topic.
Based on a series of in-depth interviews conducted with general practitioners, epidemiologists, and specialized doctors, the Cool Infrastructures team in Karachi aims to understand how bodily vulnerabilities intersect with socioeconomic vulnerabilities, heat management, as well as healthcare provision and access.