- Globally, pregnant women are at much higher risk of extreme heat due to climate change
- 90 percent of countries have doubled the number of dangerously hot days for pregnant women, according to the study
According to a recent analysis by the non-profit organization Climate Central, pregnant women around the world are at much higher risk of experiencing extreme heat due to climate change. According to the study, 90 percent of nations now have twice as many dangerously hot days for expectant mothers due to climate change, which poses major risks to both maternal health and the quality of the birth process.
This analysis is one of the first to quantify the direct effects of climate change on the increase in "pregnancy heat-risk days," or exceptionally hot days associated with an increased risk of preterm birth and pregnancy complications. In order to evaluate this trend and highlight growing concerns about the impact of climate change on health, Climate Central looked at daily temperatures from 2020 to 2024 across 247 countries and territories and 940 cities.
The results demonstrated that the number of pregnancy heat-risk days doubled in the majority of countries. Almost one-third of nations experienced an increase equal to an additional month of days with dangerously high temperatures annually. Over the previous five years, India has seen an average of six more pregnancy heat-risk days per year; roughly one-third of these days are attributable to climate change.
With 32 of these days, Sikkim had the most of any Indian state; Goa and Kerala had 24 and 18 more days, respectively. Panaji saw the biggest increase at the city level, with an average of 39 more pregnancy heat-risk days annually, or more than 90 percent of the total. Thiruvananthapuram came next with 36 days, with 92 percent of that time ascribed to climate change. There were 26 such days in Mumbai, and seven more in Chennai, Bengaluru, and Pune.
The authors of the study emphasized that this analysis serves as a stark reminder that the climate crisis is a public health emergency as well. In order to stop extreme heat events from getting worse and to safeguard pregnant women and newborns around the world from serious health risks, they called for swift emission reductions.
