The United Nations agencies have said pregnant women, babies, and children face extreme health risks from climate catastrophes that warrant urgent attention.
They called on world leaders to ensure newborns and children among others are protected from the impacts of climate change.
According to a Call for Action released Friday by UN agencies ahead of the global Conference of the Partie negotiations on climate change in Dubai, they said the effect of climate events on maternal and child health have been neglected.
“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”, the document said.
The Call to Action highlights seven urgent actions to address these mounting risks which include sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and action on climate finance, alongside the specific inclusion of the needs of pregnant women, babies and children within climate and disaster-related policies.
