Aadesh Subedi

Hobbling out of a tuk-tuk, Pooja Gupta joined fellow community health workers as they punched their fists in the air and chanted slogans against authorities in India who, they say, pay poorly despite giving them more and more work to do.

Like Gupta, tens of thousands of female health workers across South Asia are demanding basic rights and social protections that are currently denied to them such as the minimum wage, sick leave, maternity benefits and pensions.

Mosquito-borne dengue fever is taking a heavy toll on South Asian nations this year as Bangladesh grapples with record deaths and Nepal faces cases in new areas, with disease experts linking worsening outbreaks to the impacts of climate change.

Authorities in the two countries are scrambling to contain and treat the disease - which is also known as "breakbone fever" for the severe muscle and joint pains it induces. Entomologists and epidemiologists say rising temperatures and longer monsoon seasons are providing ideal breeding conditions for mosquitoes.

As parts of Nepal recover from their toughest wildfire season to-date - fuelled by rising heat and drought linked to climate change - firefighters and officials fear that the tools and tactics they use to combat forest fires may no longer suffice.

Some districts have recorded a huge spike in forest fires this year, with experts and emergency responders saying the nation should review its approach to controlling the fires that are spreading ever-faster and proving much harder to extinguish.

Dozens of families used to live in this once-vibrant village in eastern Nepal, but Sarita Rai can now count the number of households that remain on one hand.

The exodus has been driven by a lack of water, as rainfall falters and springs and streams dry up, the 52-year-old said - and most of those with the means to leave have already gone.