Over four per cent of newborn deaths are related to high and low temperatures, driven by climate change, according to research published in the
journal Nature Communications, looking at 29 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
Of the four per cent, on average, 1.5 per cent of annual newborn deaths across these countries were linked to extreme heat, while nearly three per cent were linked to extreme cold, said researchers who studied the data between 2001 and 2019.
Further, 32 per cent of all heat-related deaths in newborn babies over the period 2001-2019, amounting to more than 1.75 lakh deaths, were attributed to climate change, estimated an international team of researchers, including those from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Germany.
Previous studies have estimated that in 2019, there were 24 lakh newborn deaths, accounting for nearly half (47 per cent) of all deaths in children under five years of age. Over 90 per cent of all newborn deaths were found to occur in LMICs, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
