The impact of climate change on maternal and child health

Abstract

It can be argued that there are three colliding pandemics that are
currently a ecting the planet and its people: COVID-19, global
inequities and climate change. Regrettably, these are all the result of
human action or inaction and are preventable. e United Nations
Conference of the Parties (COP26), held in November 2021 in
Glasgow, addressed some of these issues.1 Prince Charles called this
meeting the ‘last chance saloon to save the planet.’ e main objective
of COP26 was to reduce global heating and limit global warming to
the target maximum temperature of 1.5-degree Celsius above preindustrial
levels. According to the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA), since the late 19th century, the earth surface
temperature rose by 1.18 degrees Celsius, caused by increased carbon
dioxide and other emissions into the atmosphere, with the years 2016
and 2020 being tied as the warmest years on record