The chance of a miscarriage or stillbirth can be up to 8% higher during extreme weather events such as floods than in normal times, research published in the journal Nature shows.
Heat also puts pregnant women in danger. Studies show that long periods of hot days are linked to a bigger chance of early births, babies being born too small or stillbirths.
Climate scientists say well see events like this happening more and more as weather patterns start to change because of (mostly) our burning of fossil fuels causing the air around the planet to warm .
Thats why the Clinton Health Access Initiative and the health department are working on a project that will send early warnings about dangerous weather to pregnant women and mothers of young children using the health departments maternal health messaging service, MomConnect.
In todays newsletter , Sipokazi Fokazi explains how an SMS app aims to limit climate risks for pregnant women. Sign up now .
Nobuntu Malgas, 24, lost her balance when a torrent swept her off her feet, pulling her into a gushing stream.
She was almost eight months pregnant and on her way to the shops in her hometown, Port St Johns in the Eastern Cape, to buy clothes for her unborn baby.
But what was meant to be an ordinary pop into town turned into a gut-wrenching ordeal.
Its a miracle that I survived that day. When I tried to cross the street, the water was already above my knee, she remembers.
