Maternal and child nutrition must be at the heart of the climate change agendas

Abstract

and equitable agriculture practices (Fanzo & Downs, 2021) that prioritize biodiversity.Climate change repercussions have arrived and are here to stay.Strategies to mitigate its consequences need to place front and center the need to protect the food security and nutrition of women, infants, and young children. An equity lens is needed as climate change is exacerbating existing inequities by having a disproportionate impact in lower income countries (responsible for less than 4% of climate changecausing greenhouse gases; CARE International, 2020), and among women and the poorest population segments within countries (Blakstad & Smith, 2020;Cappelli et al., 2021). Moving forward it must be acknowledged that the current Sustainable Development Goals do not acknowledge the increased risk that climate change represents for maternal, newborn, and child health and nutrition, and that there is a need to address these risks through equitable decisive actions. It is our hope that the food security and wellbeing of women, children, and their families in the context of climate change gets strongly prioritized at the upcoming 27 th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) in Egypt.

The epidemiology and associated factors of non-exclusive breastfeeding: a comparative cross-sectional study of livelihood-secure and insecure areas

“…Because this study focused on reporting only the epidemiology of NEBF and identifying associated factors in two areas with different climatic zones and vulnerability status, it does not definitively establish causal links between the effect of hot climatic zones and the provision of water and other fluids to u6m infants, as established elsewhere (111)(112)(113). As a result, we emphasize the careful interpretation of our findings and highlight the importance of further investigation to quantify the impact of climate change and seasonal variation on the population attributable risk (PAR) of NEBF practice in various climatic zones, particularly in resource-limited settings such as Ethiopia.…”

Multilevel interventions as climate change adaptation response to protect maternal and child health: a scoping review protocol

“… 19 20 Similarly, interventions or strategies to support the development of climate-resilient health infrastructure and essential services facilitate improved operational efficiency at the institutional level (health facilities like hospitals, rural clinics or mobile health services). 21 Finally, initiatives such as the establishment of a national heat-health early warning system, 22 social protection and welfare schemes, 23 24 nutrition programmes to support the dietary needs of the vulnerable population 25 and the establishment of integrated disease surveillance systems 24 requires policy-level support to strengthen large-scale (national, regional or continental level) preparedness for coping against the health impacts of climate change.…”

The climate emergency is a matter of reproductive justice

“…The climate and biodiversity emergency poses severe challenges to reproductive, maternal, infant, and child health. We are already seeing the substantial effects that air pollution,23 toxic chemicals,456 extreme heat,78 climate migration,91011 food insecurity,12 and other factors can have on our ability to conceive, sustain healthy pregnancies, and birth and parent our children in safety. We also know that women facing poverty, inequality, and disadvantage, and those from black and brown communities disproportionately bear the harms of these factors 38131415…”