The World Health Organization (WHO), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), UNICEF and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) have introduced a global framework to help countries monitor the health effects of extreme heat on pregnant women, newborns and children.
The framework identifies priority indicators to strengthen health monitoring, improve preparedness and support timely responses to climate-related health risks.
Research cited by the agencies indicates that exposure to extreme heat is associated with a 26% increase in the odds of preterm birth. Babies under one year old experienced 389% more heatwave days in 2024 compared with the 1986–2005 baseline period. An estimated 1.5 billion children worldwide are exposed to increasingly frequent, prolonged or severe heatwaves.
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The guidance recommends monitoring outcomes such as preterm births, stillbirths, low birthweight, pregnancy-related hypertension, child deaths and healthcare visits during extreme heat. School attendance can also help reveal how rising temperatures affect children’s daily lives.
“Heat is already affecting our most vulnerable populations, including pregnant women, newborns and children. But what health systems do not count, they cannot respond to,” said Dr Pascale Allotey, Director of WHO’s Department of Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing. “By tracking outcomes such as preterm birth, child deaths and illnesses, and health-facility visits alongside heat exposure, countries can identify potential impacts and take action to protect women and children.”
Combining routine health records with temperature and other heat-exposure data can help authorities identify unusual health trends, prepare healthcare facilities for increased demand and identify vulnerable communities.
WHO is urging countries to develop context-specific heat-health action plans, strengthen early warning systems and integrate the needs of pregnant women, newborns and children into climate preparedness strategies.
“As our world continues to heat up, it creates new risks for health, and older people, pregnant women, newborns and children are among those least able to escape them,” said Bruce Gordon, Director a.i. of WHO’s Department of Environment, Climate Change, One Health and Migration. “Our health systems need the data to recognize this reality and take action – from protecting people during heatwaves to embedding climate risk consideration into everyday health services.”
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