Karachi’s silent emergencies
Unsafe medical waste and failing public services expose the cost of fragmented urban governance in Pakistan’s largest city Karachi’s silent emergencies are unfolding in plain sight, steadily eroding the city’s health, environment, and civic stability. Two recent Social Track reports — on unsafe infectious medical waste disposal and on the rising distress caused by Karachi’s failing public services — show how these quiet, persistent crises are tightening their grip. Together, they reveal a megacity struggling with systemic neglect, fragmented governance, and an alarming decline in the protections that should safeguard its people. The medical waste report revealed unsettling gaps that directly threaten public health. Every day, hospitals and clinics across Karachi generate tonnes of infectious materials, yet the systems meant to collect, segregate, transport, and incinerate this waste remain fragmented. Several facilities still lack functional incinerators or rely on outso...