NADI, Fiji: Extreme heat is putting pregnant women and newborns at growing risk, United Nations climate chief Simon Stiell is set to warn at a climate summit in Fiji, citing rising evidence of health complications linked to higher temperatures.
Speaking at the “pre-COP” summit in Nadi, Stiell will highlight a new survey showing that more than two-thirds of health professionals across five continents have witnessed pregnancy-related complications linked to intense heat over the past five years.
“Rising temperatures mean rising danger in pregnancy,” Stiell is expected to say, warning that climate-driven heat exposure during pregnancy is increasingly associated with premature births, stillbirths, low birth weight and maternal complications.
Health workers report growing concerns
The survey of 1,000 midwives and doctors in the United Kingdom, Australia, India, Brazil and Zimbabwe found that almost all respondents had treated mothers or babies affected by extreme heat.
ALSO READ: Picturesque Lake on French-Swiss Border Dries Up After Record Summer Heat
Around one-third of health professionals said they had seen cases involving low birth weight, restricted growth, feeding difficulties, dehydration and heat-related illnesses that they linked to extreme temperatures.
The survey was commissioned by the charitable foundation Wellcome. Its chairwoman, former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, said climate change was increasing risks for mothers and babies.
“Extreme heat is an invisible killer, but pregnant women must not be invisible,” Gillard said, calling for action from global leaders.
Climate crisis raises health risks
Scientists have warned that climate change is intensifying extreme weather events and contributing to more frequent temperature records.
According to an analysis of data from the European Union’s Copernicus climate observatory, around 33 countries across regions including western Europe, the Sahel and Central America recorded their hottest July on record this year.
Stiell said pregnancy should remain a time of hope but warned that climate impacts were creating increasing anxiety and risks for millions of women.
The pre-COP31 summit in Fiji and Tuvalu is being used by Pacific leaders to highlight the effects of climate change on vulnerable communities ahead of the UN climate summit COP31, scheduled to take place in Turkey next month.
