Maternal health
Climate change and health
Dr Adelaide Lusambili and Dr Cherie Part will investigate how heat exposure impacts maternal and neonatal health and design interventions to mitigate these effects.
Communities in the coastal region of Kilifi, Kenya reported that extreme heat during pregnancy, labour, and the postpartum period negatively affects women’s health, access to health services, and ability to perform daily tasks, including infant care practices. Homes and hospitals were described as “unbearably hot”.
Dr Adelaide Lusambili and Dr Cherie Part from Africa International University and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine will gather data on temperatures and humidity levels in both outdoor and indoor settings (including homes and hospitals). They also plan to measure women’s personal temperature using wrist-worn devices and conduct in-depth interviews with participants to better understand their experiences.
The team will develop mathematical functions to estimate indoor temperatures from weather data and identify building structures most conducive to maternal and neonatal health. They plan to work with local stakeholders to design interventions to reduce the impact of heat on maternal health.