October 6, 2026 | Ecosphere News
FIJI - Extreme heat is emerging as a growing threat to pregnancy, childbirth and newborn health, with the impacts increasingly exposing inequalities in access to healthcare, safe housing, water, electricity and cooling.
Speaking in Fiji on Monday, ahead of the COP31 climate conference in Antalya, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary Simon Stiell described pregnancy and childbirth as a “new fault line in the global climate crisis” and urged governments to make maternal and newborn health an integral part of national climate and adaptation plans.
Addressing an event organised by the global charitable foundation Wellcome, Stiell said the real test of climate action goes beyond temperature targets, finance and international commitments.
It is, he said, “whether we protect life at its most fragile.”
Rising temperatures, rising risks
Stiell highlighted growing evidence that extreme heat during pregnancy is associated with premature birth, stillbirth, low birth weight and maternal health complications.
New survey findings released by Wellcome on Monday reinforce concerns among health professionals. The survey, conducted among maternal health professionals across five countries and five continents, found that 73 percent of respondents had seen heat-related cases or complications increase over the past five years.
Meanwhile, 81 percent said they were concerned or very concerned that extreme heat would increasingly threaten maternal, foetal and newborn health without stronger action.
Almost all respondents said they had cared for a pregnant woman or baby whose health they believed had been affected by extreme heat.
“Rising temperatures mean rising danger in pregnancy,” Stiell said, stressing that behind the statistics are real human experiences-from pregnant women struggling to reach healthcare facilities in dangerous heat to health workers operating in unsafe temperatures and newborns requiring specialised medical care.
Climate risks are not shared equally
The effects of extreme heat are particularly severe for people already facing social and economic vulnerabilities.
Outdoor workers, families living in poorly regulated housing, women travelling long distances to reach health facilities, and communities dependent on clinics without reliable water, electricity or cooling systems cannot be adequately protected simply by being advised to “stay cool,” Stiell warned.
“‘Staying cool’ is simply not an option when there is no cool place to go,” he said.
He warned that climate change could further deepen existing inequalities in maternal healthcare, where the safety of pregnancy and childbirth is already influenced by geography, income and access to essential services.
For small island states and other vulnerable countries that have contributed little to the climate crisis but face some of its most severe consequences, Stiell said the findings also highlight the need for climate finance and adaptation support at scale.
He called for the tripling of adaptation finance agreed at COP30 in Belém to be delivered and for the international financial system to help mobilise $1.3 trillion annually for developing countries.
Three priorities for climate-resilient maternal health
Stiell outlined three key priorities for governments and health systems:
Integrate pregnancy and newborn care into climate adaptation, heat and health planning.
Turn scientific evidence into practical protection through clinical guidance, health-worker training, heat alerts and safer healthcare facilities.
Strengthen data and monitoring to identify where risks are increasing and determine which interventions are most effective.
“What is not named in a plan is too often not funded, not measured and not protected,” Stiell said, warning that harm that is not properly documented can easily be overlooked.
He welcomed the decision by the COP31 Presidency of Türkiye and Australia’s President of Negotiations to make health a key priority, building on efforts initiated under Brazil’s COP presidency.
A growing climate-health challenge
The warning carries particular significance for developing countries, where extreme heat is converging with gaps in healthcare infrastructure, inadequate housing, poverty and limited access to cooling.
For countries such as Nepal, where climate-related hazards are already placing pressure on health systems and vulnerable communities, the message underscores the importance of integrating maternal and newborn health into national climate adaptation, disaster-risk reduction and heat-action planning.
Climate change is not only changing ecosystems and economies-it is increasingly affecting some of the most critical moments in human life.
“A changing climate must never be accepted as a reason pregnancy and birth become less safe,” Stiell said.
“A newborn’s healthy start must never depend on a family’s ability to escape the heat.”
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