Research by Sultana Cited in Scientific American Article on Extreme Weather, Long-Term Health

January 4, 2024

Scientific American

Farhana Sultana

Geography & the Environment Department

Environmental Conflict and Collaboration

South Asia Center

Climate Change

Gender and Sex

Mental Health

Natural Disasters

South Asia

Scientific American

Farhana Sultana

As global warming intensifies storms, heat waves, floods and droughts, these events are getting under people’s skin and disrupting well-being in ways that persist long after the events themselves have subsided.

Scientists have long understood the immediate effects of food or water shortages on the body: starvation, dehydration and organ failure. But only recently have they begun documenting the effects of such shortages on the brain.

Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment, found that women in Bangladesh suffer disproportionately during floods, in part because they bear the brunt of responsibility for managing water and food for their household, as well as taking care of their children.

Read more in the Scientific American article, "Extreme Weather Has Long-Term Health Consequences."