Across South and Southeast Asia, climate change is intensifying existing pressures on health systems. Heatwaves, flooding, shifting vector ecologies, and climate-sensitive disease outbreaks are increasing health service demand in contexts already characterised by workforce shortages, uneven infrastructure, and high baseline vulnerability. While there are no estimates of workforce requirements for addressing the health impacts of climate change, the World Health Organization (WHO) (n.d.) estimates a shortage of 11 million health workers by 2030 in low and lower-middle income countries. Many countries have begun integrating climate considerations into health planning; however, the extent to which these efforts are systematically reflected in workforce development and training remains variable (Rao & Tomar, 2026).
While countries have established human resources for health (HRH) frameworks aligned with national health priorities, these systems were not developed with climate-related risk management in mind. Climate–health content remains unevenly integrated into professional education and in-service training; environmental health expertise is limited; monitoring and evaluation systems are evolving; and coordination across health, environment, and disaster governance structures continues to pose institutional challenges (Rao & Tomar, 2026). Consequently, workforce preparedness does not always keep pace with emerging climate-sensitive risks.
Strengthening climate–health competencies across HRH is therefore central to building climate-resilient health systems in the region. Drawing on a peer-reviewed global scoping review and regional stakeholder interactions (Tomar & Rao, 2026), this policy brief examines ten climate-vulnerable countries in Asia [1] and advances three contributions: (a) a structured climate–health competency framework; (b) identification of cadre-specific requirements across community, clinical, and public health management roles; and (c) phased recommendations that operate at two levels—short-term operational actions to strengthen training and service delivery, and longer-term institutional reforms to embed these capacities within HRH systems.
