"What will we do with pads if we don't have underwear?" Yogita Tamang asked AFP regarding a lack of period supplies in Nepal's relief camps. The U.N. has warned that risks of gender-based violence, sexual exploitation, and unmet reproductive health care needs have risen following last week's floods.
U.N. Women said last week that 157,050 women and girls had been impacted by the flash floods and mudslides that devastated the Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts of Nepal on August 26. Around 43,000 women and girls require immediate aid, the agency estimated earlier this week. As of September 4, the death toll for the disaster, which also impacted communities in Tibet, had surpassed 1,300, while more than 4,000 people remain missing.
The U.N. has warned that threats of gender-based violence, sexual exploitation, and unmet sexual, reproductive, and maternal health needs are heightened in the aftermath of the disaster.
Anju Bhujel, who has been staying at a temporary relief camp with her children, told Agence France-Presse that a nongovernmental organization helped supply menstrual pads but that disposal had been an issue. Yogita Tamang told the outlet that many who fled had no time to gather clothing: "What will we do with pads if we don't have underwear?" Tamang posed.
Access to privacy, toilets, and clean water has also been limited in the relief camps.
"Women are telling us that access to safe water has been cut off altogether, following the destruction of water systems, roads, and bridges," said Christine Arab of U.N. Women, who noted that Nepali women in the hardest-hit zones said food was the biggest priority as of September 1.
The crushing floods that took lives, homes, and roadways were triggered by a glacial collapse in the Himalayas that unleashed vast amounts of rock, ice, meltwater, and debris.
Some scientists have cautioned that it is too early to say just how much of a role climate change played in the collapse. But many have highlighted the connection between planet-warming emissions, rising temperatures, and the increasing instability of glaciers in the region, all of which may trigger more disasters in the future.
Environmental advocates have emphasized the importance of a just transition away from burning the fossil fuels that drive the climate crisis, especially as vulnerable nations like Nepal experience gravely disproportionate impacts despite contributing little to global emissions.
"We are suffering for a crime that we did not commit," climate activist Tashi Lhazom told AFP in Kathmandu. Read more...
Ghanaian technologist Karen-Happuch Henneh was recently named one of 50 Distinguished Winners of Apple's 2026 Swift Student Challenge for designing an app aimed at helping people navigate flood risks. Informed by her memories of deadly floods in Accra, Henneh developed Asuo as an offline flood-safety and navigation app.
The app — whose name Henneh says means "flowing water" in Twi — was designed to help users identify flood risks, avoid dangerous areas, and find safer routes and shelters, even when internet access is unreliable. It also features an interactive voice alert system for people who are blind or have low vision.
Created for flood-prone areas in Accra, Asuo could be adapted for other communities facing similar risks. An estimated 1.8 billion people live in flood-prone zones around the world, highlighting the need for emergency-focused apps that can help people prepare for and navigate disasters.
As more of the world experiences drought, scientists are pointing to a seeming paradox: Drier conditions could actually promote the spread of certain infectious diseases often associated with heavy rains and floods. A study published in Trends in Ecology & Evolution suggests how and why illnesses such as dengue, West Nile, and cholera may surge post-drought.
The link may be counterintuitive for those who typically connect the idea of disease spread with heavy rainfall or standing water. If watery conditions can promote the transmission of certain diseases, why wouldn't drier conditions suppress them?
Not every illness is set to soar in a drying world — according to Grist's coverage of the recent research, schistosomiasis and malaria could see drops under such conditions. But study co-authors Pieter Johnson and Tara Stewart Merrill say that, in some cases, drought-adapted pathogens and those that can infect drought-tolerant hosts may thrive. They also suggest that when a whole bunch of vectors end up at the one remaining watering hole, "these places can become hotspots," according to a news release.
It's not the first time researchers have highlighted the potential for infectious diseases to be exacerbated by both flood and drought.
For example, a 2021 study found that a rise in dengue risk following severe drought in Brazil was associated with the household practice of managing the crisis by collecting and storing water. Such containers of water, if not sealed, can become breeding grounds for the mosquitoes that carry the disease — which can be fatal, cause pain and fever, and pose threats to maternal health and pregnancy.
Understanding which diseases thrive under drought conditions could help officials and communities strengthen surveillance, anticipate outbreaks, and refine prevention and response efforts where they are most needed.
"As climate change brings more frequent and extreme droughts, we want to anticipate how disease transmission will change so we can better forecast outbreaks and prepare for them," Johnson said in the release.
New research analyzing nearly 30 million births in Brazil found that exposure to drought during pregnancy was associated with a higher risk of preterm birth. Additionally, researchers found that longer periods of drought were also linked to a greater likelihood of babies being small for their gestational age, according to a press release from the Sant Pau Research Institute, which was involved in the study.
Published in The Lancet Regional Health — Americas, the results add to a growing body of knowledge about how pregnant people and birth outcomes can be affected by climate and environmental conditions, including extreme heat, floods, and air pollution.
The study also underscores the unequal health impacts of drought: Prolonged exposure was linked to an 8-10% higher risk of preterm birth in areas with greater socioeconomic vulnerability. The risk of preterm birth was even greater when drought coincided with extreme heat, highlighting the potential health effects of compounding climate stresses.
The study brings large-scale population-based evidence to a relatively understudied area of climate and maternal and fetal health. The co-authors call for integrating drought into maternal health and climate-adaptation strategies, prioritizing vulnerable communities, strengthening communication and preparedness, and further research to evaluate which interventions can reduce pregnancy risks.
A community-led initiative in Malawi wants to hear from women about the costs involved in sourcing cooking fuel and the impacts of inhaling its smoke. In Blantyre District, where 85-95% of households rely on charcoal or firewood for cooking, according to Malawi24, women and girls bear much of the time, financial, and health burdens of collecting and burning the fuel, often in poorly ventilated spaces.
The Eco-Feminist Energy Justice Project from SHINE Collab is described as bringing women together through group dialogues to explore the links between energy sources, well-being, family budgets, deforestation, and gender inequality. In conversation, women can share their own experiences and help to improve access to options that really work. Scaling up the use of cleaner cooking stoves, for example, remains a part of Malawi's national strategy to reduce emissions and environmental degradation while improving public health.
A study published last month in the journal Urology has added to a growing body of research into the potential for plant-based diets to reduce urinary tract infections, or UTIs.
In an analysis of data from 57,252 women, researchers found that the odds of recurrent UTIs were 23% lower among lacto-ovo vegetarians and 31% lower among vegans when compared with non-vegetarians.
A 2020 publication pointed in a similar direction, suggesting that vegetarian diets may help lower UTI risks by altering pH balance as well as by reducing the amount of certain strains of E. coli bacteria in the bowel that might otherwise end up in the urethra and cause infection.
The main sources of certain E. coli outbreaks have included "raw or undercooked ground meat products, raw milk, and fecal contamination of vegetables," according to the World Health Organization.
For reasons to do with both human and planetary health, many people have already been choosing to reduce their consumption of meat sourced from industrial farms. The aim to reduce UTIs, which disproportionately affect women and older men, may add to the list of reasons some people want to explore a more plant-based diet.
Hosted by pop singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo in Irvine, California, on August 29, the women-led Daisy Chain Fields music festival featured 14 artists, including Rodrigo herself, Chappell Roan, Doechii, Mitski, Garbage, and riot grrrl icons Bikini Kill. Also performing was Sarah McLachlan, who launched the Lilith Fair music festival in the 1990s.
Daisy Chain Fields was organized as a benefit concert, with proceeds going to feminist and reproductive-justice organizations including Black Mamas Matter Alliance, Center for Reproductive Rights, Jhpiego, Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health, National Domestic Workers Alliance, National Institute for Reproductive Health, and Planned Parenthood. With Rodrigo having previously shared that the festival would make a donation of $10 million, Melinda French Gates appeared onstage as it was announced that she would match it, bringing the total to $20 million.
An estimated 45,000 festival-goers braved extreme temperatures to attend the performances. Heat warnings had been issued in advance of the festival, with the city of Irvine announcing the provision of cooling buses and Daisy Chain Fields organizers announcing free hydration stations, according to CBS News.
A review from the Guardian described long lines at free water stations and medical tents. "Compounding the heat issue is a lack of shaded areas on site, as well as the festival’s strict policies that do not allow attenders to bring in non-aerosol sunscreen bottles over 3.4oz or umbrellas," the outlet reported.
This digest was curated and reported by Gracie Leavitt. It was written and edited by Gracie Leavitt and Kirsten Krueger.
One goal at Climate, Gendered is to bring a spotlight to the reality that proliferating pollution, increasing temperatures, rising seas, extreme weather, habitat loss, and more can uniquely and disproportionately impact girls, women, and LGBTQ+ communities — especially individuals from communities of color, Indigenous people, disabled people, immigrants and displaced people, people experiencing poverty, and residents of low- and middle-income countries. We're also interested in the climate and environment crises and concerns that can disproportionately affect boys and men.
But there's a whole lot going on around the world, and this weekly brief isn't intended to be exhaustive but rather your chance to spend just a few moments on a handful of items — including the ideas that might make a difference.
This work cannot be done alone or in silos. We appreciate your feedback and observations. And please feel encouraged to share one way you noticed this week that climate and gender connect — and share CG with a friend.
Have you heard of "clean air clubs"? Grassroots organizers are sharing this guide so communities can start their own and neighbors can help keep each other safe amid wildfires and pollution.
Hundreds of thousands of residents have been impacted by rotating 48-hour shutoffs, with some having waited hours in line to fill up on water amid severe drought conditions affecting large swaths of the U.S. territory.
"Historically, females have been underrepresented in thermoregulation research," postdoctoral fellow Hannah Blount told CG. Her work to address knowledge gaps around sweat patterns is set to prove even more critical as temperatures rise — and could even help girls stay safe and active in sports.
CG spoke with self-identified climate refugee Margaret Reynolds about how a Maine coalition is working to save an L&D unit amid a rash of rural maternity care closures across the state and country — and amid extreme weather that can complicate travel to health centers farther and farther away.
