UNICEF Warns of the Impact of Rising Extreme Heat Waves on Millions of Children

Hidration as a Main way to fight against heatwave, Aug 2024 Photo: @Justice4Abo

August 14, 2024 Hour: 2:58 pm

For UNICEF, the climate-related danger to infant health is intensifying, as “they affect food and water safety and contamination, damage infrastructure and cause displacement”.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Tuesday that 466 million children, roughly one in five globally, live today in areas affected by extreme heat waves, more frequent than six decades ago.

The report, based on statistics for the period 2020-2024 that take into account extreme heat such as days with more than 35 degrees Celsius, also warns of the negative impact it can have on “health, well-being and daily activities” of children.

According to Catherine Russell, UNICEF executive director: “Children are not young adults. Their bodies are much more vulnerable to extreme heat. Young bodies heat up faster and cool down more slowly (…) Thermal stress, caused by extreme heat, poses a very serious threat to the health and well-being of children and pregnant women”.

Countries like Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sudan and South Sudan are the most affected, where children spend more than half of the year under extreme temperatures. Among the countries with UNICEF offices in Latin America and the Caribbean, 109 million children live in areas where heat waves have doubled and 56 million in places where they have tripled.

Extreme heat is increasing, disrupting children’s health, well-being and daily routines.

Children are not little adults. Their bodies are far more vulnerable to extreme heat.

More here on the scale of hot days and actions needed to protect children👇 https://t.co/E9VusLG24z
— Catherine Russell (@unicefchief) August 14, 2024

While in Europe and Central Asia, 55 million children live in areas where the frequency of this extreme phenomenon has also doubled and 7 million in others where it has tripled.

For UNICEF, the climate-related danger to infant health is intensifying, as “they affect food and water safety and contamination, damage infrastructure and cause displacement”. This is why the call is for “taking advantage of the opportunity and urgent action” on behalf of children.