The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched the first global framework to track how extreme heat and pregnancy risks affect mothers, newborns and children, as heatwaves grow more frequent and severe worldwide.
The framework was announced on 21 October 2026 with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), UNICEF and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). It sets out the first-ever priority indicators to help countries monitor the health effects of heat on these vulnerable groups.
Evidence cited by the agencies shows that extreme heat is linked to a 26% increase in the odds of preterm birth. Babies under one year experienced 389% more heatwave days in 2024 than in the 1986 to 2005 baseline period. An estimated 1.5 billion children are now exposed to heatwaves that are becoming more frequent, longer or more severe.
What Countries Are Being Asked to Track
Under the new guidance, countries should monitor preterm births, stillbirths, low birthweight, pregnancy hypertension, child deaths and health-facility visits during extreme heat. School attendance is also recommended as an indicator, since heat can disrupt children’s daily lives.
Health authorities can compare routine health data with heat-exposure data, such as air temperature, to spot unusual changes during heatwaves. This can help them prepare facilities for higher demand, strengthen warnings to pregnant women and families, and identify the communities at greatest risk.
Dr Pascale Allotey, Director of WHO’s Department of Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing, said that what health systems do not count, they cannot respond to.
Bruce Gordon, Director a.i. of WHO’s Department of Environment, Climate Change, One Health and Migration, said pregnant women, newborns, children and older people are among those least able to escape rising heat. He called for health systems to have the data needed to protect people during heatwaves and to build climate risk into everyday health services.
WHO is urging all countries to adopt heat-health action plans that fit their local context, address the needs of mothers and children, and strengthen early warning systems so that action is triggered quickly when heat risks emerge.
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