The climate changes, worldwide and in Switzerland. Many indicators prove it impressively and unequivocally. The temperatures and the level of the seas are increasing, the ice masses melt, the water cycle changes, the permafrost is delated and the ecosystems are disrupted. ” It is the Federal Meteorology and Climatology Office that reminds us. He continues: “The observed climate change is almost entirely due to the emission of greenhouse gas by human activities.” And then what?
We became aware of the risk of heat waves for seniors following obvious excess mortality in the summer of 2003 – over twenty years ago! – and “heat wave plans” have been set up everywhere, oriented on individual secondary prevention. But seniors are not the only vulnerable people.
A systematic journal study published in 2023 has shown that heat exposure can lead to many harmful effects for pregnant women and newborns. We know, we say this review of scientific literature, that, “during pregnancy, normal physiological changes, such as increased hormonal sensitivity and changes in blood circulation and blood volume, can reduce the capacity of a pregnant person to regulate their body temperature, thus increasing their sensitivity to the harmful effects of heat on health. Exposure to heat can lead to an elevation of central body temperature and maternal pulse, which can cause tachycardia of the fetal heart rate and trigger uterine contractions. Pregnancy increases blood volume and hydration needs, increasing the risk of dehydration. The combination of dehydration and exposure to heat also contributes to the impact of premature contractions and can modify the blood flow towards the placenta, resulting in more serious complications such as placental detachment and a delay in fetal growth.
It is not really banal and shows – if it is still necessary – that pregnancy, for wonderful it is, deserves particular attention in connection with global warming: three serious situations that are hypertension with its risk of lightning, placental detachment with its risk of cataclysmic hemorrhage and the death of the baby, and premature delivery are particularly worrying. Studies published to date highlight an increase in incidence in the event of a heat peak, but cannot decide if it only aggravates situations at risk or if this can be the primary cause of these complications … But the fact is there and the studies are continuing.
You will say to me: “Just follow pregnancies better, take the necessary measures and everything will be fine.” It may be true with us, but more complicated for example in the Bengal Delta: there, global warming increases the sea level, with an erosion of the coasts, and a salinization of the land which become unfit for cultivation. These environmental changes have caused large -scale population trips, upsetting lives and subjecting enormous stress to the region’s already fragile health systems, undermining food security. Many villages become practically inaccessible during the monsoon period. And freshwater sources are salt, become unfit for drink, not to mention the risk of contamination that this represents with its share of diarrhea.
An investigation made in 2022 highlighted that, under these conditions, almost half of the pregnancies are at risk, with a possibility of intervening less for questions of isolation: there are many attempts carried by the government and NGOs (including the land of Swiss men) aimed at forming interveners in health of communities to minimize the risks and to carry out a certain number of gestures on the spot; These attempts have a certain success and are carrying hope for these “collateral victims” populations of our consumerist world that we no longer know how to stop … (it’s like war, it’s profitable for some!)
And yet it is not inevitable but a political choice!
