Protecting maternal, newborn and child health from the impacts of climate change: Call to action

Pregnant women, babies and children face extreme health risks from climate catastrophes that warrant urgent attention, according to a Call for Action released 21 Nov 2023 by United Nations (UN) agencies ahead of the global Conference of the Parties (COP28) negotiations on climate change in Dubai.

According to the document– Protecting maternal, newborn and child health from the impacts of climate change – the effects of climate events on maternal and child health have been neglected, underreported and underestimated. It highlights that very few countries’ climate change response plans mention maternal or child health, describing this as “a glaring omission and emblematic of the inadequate attention to the needs of women, newborns, and children in the climate change discourse”.