Survey finds extreme heat increasingly endangers pregnant women and newborns worldwide

Extreme heat is increasingly threatening pregnant women and newborn babies around the world, with almost all maternal health professionals surveyed across five continents saying they have cared for women or infants whose health was affected by high temperatures. The findings, released as climate ministers gathered in the Pacific ahead of the COP31 climate summit, provide […]

NADI, Fiji — Extreme heat is putting pregnant mothers and their newborns at increasing risk, United Nations climate chief Simon Stiell will warn on Monday. Speaking at the "pre-COP" summit in Nadi, Fiji, Stiell will cite a new survey showing more than two thirds of health professionals across five continents had seen complications caused by intense heat in the past five years. "Rising temperatures mean rising danger in pregnancy," he is expected to say. "Climate-driven extreme heat during pregnancy is increasingly linked to premature birth, stillbirth, low birth weight, and maternal complications." "The picture is clear and very disturbing: as extreme heat worsens, pregnancy and birth are now a new faultline in the global climate crisis, and one which is potentially fatal," Stiell will say. "This faultline must not become another deep chasm of climate-driven suffering, inequality and injustice." Scientists warn that climate change is making extreme weather events more intense and resulting in heat records tumbling more often. Around 33 countries, spanning from western Europe to the Sahel

Climate-driven extreme heat during pregnancy is increasingly linked to premature birth, stillbirth, low birth weight, and maternal complications, says the United Nations' climate chief.