Global research explores climate change impact on maternal and child health
- Wits University
Analysis of birth records and climate data will establish how many adverse pregnancy outcomes occur due to climate change.
The University of the Witwatersrand’s Planetary Health Research (Wits PHR) division, directed by Professor Matthew Chersich, is leading a major international research initiative to examine the impacts of climate change on the health of pregnant women and newborns.
Funded by a €3.3 million Wellcome Trust Climate and Health Challenge Award, the Global Heat Attribution Project (GHAP) will link climate data with 45 million birth records across Africa, Europe, and Latin America to measure the true extent of the effect of climate change on heat-related health risks in vulnerable populations.
A climate-driven health crisis
Rising global temperatures are increasingly linked to adverse pregnancy outcomes, including preterm births, low birth weight, and stillbirths. Pregnant women and newborns are among the most vulnerable to extreme heat, yet the full scale of these risks remains poorly quantified.
“This funding from Wellcome Trust allows us to directly quantify the impact of heat exposure on pregnant women, a major yet underappreciated public health threat,” says Chersich, who is also Professor of Public Health and Primary Care at Trinity College Dublin’s School of Medicine.
“With each passing year, heatwaves become longer, hotter, and more frequent, pushing more parts of the world towards ‘unliveable’ conditions. By analysing birth records and climate data together, we will be able to track just how many adverse pregnancy outcomes are occurring due to climate change. This will help shape early warning systems and policy responses to protect mothers and babies.”
The Global Heat Attribution Project (GHAP)
The GHAP will use cutting-edge statistical techniques to separate the health impacts of natural temperature variations from those directly caused by human-induced climate change. This distinction is key to developing accurate, scientific, and evidence-based adaptation strategies for the most affected regions.
The project’s objectives include:
- Quantifying the heat-related burden of preterm births and other maternal and neonatal outcomes
- Attributing these impacts to the effects of climate change, with novel methods
- Identifying climate-health indicators to monitor these impacts through global health systems
- Modelling response strategies, including how healthcare systems can better protect pregnant women from extreme heat
- Strengthening policymaking by providing governments and international bodies with actionable data.
The GHAP builds on Wits PHR’s extensive research into climate change and health. Chersich was recently part of a landmark systematic review published in Nature Medicine, which examined nearly 200 studies across 66 countries, reinforcing the urgent need for global action on this issue.
A global call to action
Extreme heat is no longer a distant threat—it is a present-day crisis with real and measurable health consequences. By advancing methods for tracking and responding to climate-driven health impacts, GHAP will provide the scientific evidence needed to drive urgent policy action and health adaptation.
The project’s findings will be critical in shaping how governments, researchers, and health systems respond to climate-driven health challenges.
GHAP is a collaboration between Wits PHR and Trinity College Dublin, with additional partners across multiple continents.