UN climate chief Simon Stiell is set to present survey findings on pregnancy and birth complications reported by health professionals at a pre-COP summit in Fiji.
Extreme heat is putting pregnant women and newborns at growing risk, UN climate chief Simon Stiell is expected to say at the pre-COP summit in Nadi, Fiji, on October 5. He says heat is increasingly linked to premature birth, stillbirth, low birth weight and complications for mothers.
Stiell is expected to cite a survey of 1,000 doctors and midwives in the United Kingdom, Australia, India, Brazil and Zimbabwe, commissioned by the Wellcome charity. More than two-thirds of health professionals surveyed across five continents said they had encountered complications they associated with intense heat during the previous five years.
Nearly all respondents had cared for mothers or babies affected by extreme heat. About one-third reported low birth weight or restricted growth, feeding problems, dehydration or heat-related illness they believed was caused by heat. The figures reflect clinicians’ survey responses rather than an independent assessment of causation in each case.
The Fiji meeting precedes COP31, scheduled for November in Turkey. Pacific leaders are using the pre-summit to draw attention to the region’s exposure to climate impacts.