On an average, every hour in India 345 newborns are being born prematurely (preterm birth). Globally, every 2 seconds a newborn is being born prematurely and every 40 seconds one of them dies. This has been revealed by researchers from the University of Philander.
The results of the research have been published in Science of the Total Environment. According to this, climate change is the main reason for this. The change in climate is directly related to the health of children. Due to the increase in temperature, not only preterm births but also the number of mutes is increasing. At the same time, according to a research conducted on 29 low and middle income countries by researchers from Germany’s Pondsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, 4% more newborn deaths are related to the maximum and minimum temperatures caused by climate change. The findings of the research have been published in the journal Nature Communications
1.75 lakh newborn deaths in 18 years
According to the researchers, out of four percent in 29 low and middle income countries, an average of 1.5 percent of annual newborn deaths were related to extreme temperatures, while about three percent were due to extreme cold. Apart from this, climate change was responsible for 32 percent of heat-related deaths in newborns during this period of 18 years.
This means that during this period, more than 1.75 lakh deaths out of the total heat-related deaths of newborns were related to the impact of climate change. Due to climate change, an average annual temperature increase of 0.9 degrees Celsius was recorded during 2001 to 2019. The body temperature control capacity of newborns is incomplete, their body is not fully developed to control the heat. Higher metabolism and lower sweating rate make it difficult for them to remove excess heat from their body. Researchers said that sub-Saharan African countries have the greatest impact of global warming on newborn deaths due to excess temperatures. Pakistan, Mali, Sierra Leone, Nigeria had the highest temperature-related newborn mortality rates, of which more than 160 deaths per 100,000 live births were caused by increased temperatures. In 2019, there were 2.4 million newborn deaths worldwide, of which more than 90 percent occurred in low and middle-income countries, especially sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
