Extreme heat puts pregnancy and childbirth at new risk, UN warns
– Extreme heat is increasingly putting pregnant women, unborn babies and newborns at risk, with climate change emerging as a new and potentially fatal threat to maternal and newborn health, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell has warned.Speaking at an event organized by Wellcome on Monday (5) on the first day of the official Pre-COP ministerial meeting in Fiji, Stiell said rising temperatures were increasingly being linked to premature births, stillbirths, low birth weight and complications affecting mothers.He cited new data from a Wellcome-commissioned survey of maternal health professionals across five countries and five continents, saying the findings were “compelling and deeply worrying.”According to the survey, 73% of healthcare professionals reported an increase over the past five years in heat-related cases or complications affecting maternal health. More than four in five respondents (81%) said they were concerned or very concerned that extreme heat would increasingly threaten maternal, fetal and newborn health without stronger action.
Almost all respondents said they had cared for a pregnant woman (98%) or baby (99%) whose health they believed had been affected by extreme heat.“As extreme heat worsens, pregnancy and birth are now a new faultline in the global climate crisis, and one which is potentially fatal,” Stiell said.He said the risks were not distributed equally, noting that people working outdoors, living in poorly regulated housing, travelling long distances to healthcare facilities or relying on clinics without adequate water, electricity or cooling faced greater dangers.
“‘Staying cool’ is simply not an option when there is no cool place to go,” he said.
Stiell warned that climate change could further deepen existing inequalities in access to safe pregnancy and childbirth, particularly as extreme heat and other climate-related disasters place additional pressure on health systems and threaten access to food, water and electricity.He called for maternal and newborn healthcare to be incorporated into national climate adaptation, heat and health plans, saying that issues not included in such plans were often not funded, measured or adequately protected.He also urged governments to strengthen heat alerts, healthcare worker training, resilient health facilities and access to reliable water, electricity and cooling, while improving data collection to identify communities facing the greatest risks.
Stiell also called for greater international financial support for developing countries, particularly vulnerable small island states, saying the tripling of adaptation finance agreed at COP30 in Belém must be delivered.He said countries and the wider financial system must work towards mobilizing $1.3 trillion annually for developing nations to build resilience and accelerate the shift towards clean, affordable and secure energy.Referring to the upcoming COP31 in Antalya, Stiell commended the Turkish COP31 Presidency and Australia’s President of Negotiations for making health a key priority.
“Across every culture, the arrival of a child is precious,” he said, stressing that climate change must never become a reason for pregnancy and childbirth to become less safe.
