United Nations agencies have stressed that urgent attention is needed to curb the extreme health risks faced by pregnant women, babies, and children during climate catastrophes.
They call upon world leaders to prioritize the protection of newborns and children, among others, against the impacts of climate change.
UN agencies, in a Call for Action issued on Friday ahead of the global Conference of the Parties negotiations on climate change in Dubai, underscored the overlooked impact of climate events on maternal and child health.
‘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.
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The Call to Action outlines seven urgent steps to address increasing risks, including ongoing reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, climate finance measures, and the targeted inclusion of the needs of pregnant women, babies, and children in climate and disaster-related policies.
‘To find climate solutions that acknowledge the distinct health needs and vulnerabilities of women and girls we must start by asking the right questions,” said Diene Keita, the Deputy Executive Director for Programmes at UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. “Global climate solutions must support – not sacrifice – gender equality.’
It was quoted from Bruce Aylward, the Assistant Director General for Universal Health Coverage, Life Course at the World Health Organization, that children and pregnant women bear the dire consequences of climate change.
‘Climate change poses an existential threat to all of us, but pregnant women, babies and children face some of the gravest consequences of all.’
‘Children’s futures need to be consciously protected, which means taking climate action now for the sake of their health and survival, while ensuring their unique needs are recognised in the climate response,’ he was quoted as saying.