According to new studies from India, working in intense heat can increase the risk of miscarriage and pregnancy for pregnant women.
The review found that parents ‘ risks are considerably higher than previously believed.
According to experts, hotter summers does affect people in places like the UK as well as those in humid climates.
They want specific health advice for global expectant women who work.
About half of those who participated in the project worked in occupations where they were exposed to high temperatures, such as those in agriculture, brick ovens, and water cottages. The people worked in cool settings, such as hospitals and schools, but some of the employees were also exposed to extremely high temperatures during those positions as well.
There is no universal standard for how much heat a person feels when they are too popular.
“]The influence of heat ] is equivalent to what you’re used to and what your heart’s used to”, says Prof Jane Hirst, one of the experts who contributed to the study.
In the beautiful green areas of Tiruvannamalai, I meet Sumathy, one of the expectant women who took part.
She removes her heavy boots and extends her hands. She has been picking vegetables for the past two days.
” My fingers burn in this heat”, she tells me, softly caressing her finger.
Although the summer has just begun, it is currently about 30 degrees below and feels also hotter as a result.
Sumathy must wear gloves to keep her hands protected from the regular stuttering of the little spikes on the cucumbers, but they cause her to sweat profusely.
” My face burn too”, she says.
She works as a kitchen in a class before and after her primary job, and is paid about 200 pounds or just under £2 for her work.
Tulip Mazumdar, a global health journalist for the BBC, reports from southern India on recent research that suggests that heat can increase the risk of pregnancy and pregnancy.
Sumathy was one of the first volunteers.
One of the first in the research to pass away was her child.
” Being female and working in the heat used to make me feel so exhausted,” she says.
One evening, as Sumathy was dropping off her father’s meal, she immediately started feeling really sick. She saw a dentist that night who informed her that one month into her conception, she had miscarried.
” My father would console me by placing me down on his shoulder. I do n’t know what I would have done without him”, she says.
Sumathy has learned to live without her father despite sharing so much like with him. She is now the family’s main earner after he recently passed away.
Sumathy may not know for certain whether the temperature she experienced while pregnant caused her to lose her first child.
However, according to the study, women who worked in similar circumstances were twice as likely to have stillbirths or miscarriages as those in cooler settings.
Essential for people everywhere in the universe
According to Prof. Hirst, a consultant obstetrician based in the UK and Professor of Global Women’s Health at the medical research institute The George Institute, the pregnant women in the review in India are actually “at the vanguard of experiencing climate change.”
The World Health Organization ( WHO ) is warning of” an existential threat to all of us” with pregnant women facing” some of the gravest consequences” because the average temperature on Earth is expected to rise by nearly three degrees by the end of the century in comparison to pre-industrial times.
The latest results from India are especially striking and caring, says Prof Hirst, and have wider relevance.
” The UK is getting hotter summers, and while it’s not as hot as India, these adverse effects ]on pregnancies ] can be seen at much lower temperatures in more temperate climates, such as the UK”.
But, she adds, they do need to be “kept in view”. Experienced child damage is also going to be a “rare occurrence for most girls,” even with a doubling of the danger.
There is now no recognized international guidance for pregnant, working girls in the heat.
The main advice that is available for hot-weather employment is based on research involving a man in the US government in the 1960s and 1970s who was between 70 and 75 kg and had 20 % body fat.
- avoiding spending a lot of time outside in the steam
- Taking frequent color breaks when working outside on hot days
- Avoiding bathing or exercising for extended periods during the day’s hottest hour
- Keeping refreshed with liquid
For the investigation in India, the researchers used what is called the damp- bulb- globe- temperature ( WBGT), which measures the effects of temperature, humidity, wind speed and glowing heat on mortal bodies.
WBGT observations frequently go beyond what you might expect from a weather software or television.
No other option but to exercise in the sun
In the sugar fields of Tiruvannamalai, Rekha Shanmugam, a former nurse and the SRIHER article’s direct scholar, is measuring the daytime heat.
A few dozen workers around us, about half of whom are women, use smaller machetes to hack down thick stems of wood.
” These people usually have no choice but to labor out in the sunlight- they need the money”, says Ms Shanmugam.
She presses numerous buttons while pouring liquid into a measure. It has a WBGT of 29.5C, which is above the acceptable warmth for performing this kind of physically demanding job in the heat.
She claims that if the employees spend a lot of time exposed to this level of heat, they are more susceptible to heat-related illnesses, which is particularly concerning for infertile women.
Sandhiya, 28, tells me she has no option but to do this type of backwards- splitting work for which she gets paid on 600 rupees, only under £6 a day.
She needs to pull two young children with an extended relatives.
Sandhiya also participated in the study, but six weeks into her maternity, she lost her first child.
She claims she is still paying off the debt she incurred while working for a while while recovering.
” All my wishes centre around my children”, Sandhiya tells me. I want them to succeed in their studies and employment. They should n’t end up toiling here in the fields like me”.
The issue of peeing
The methods behind how and why temperature affects pregnant ladies and their growing babies in this disturbing means are not well understood.
One idea is that when the family becomes too hot, blood may become diverted away from the baby to help cool the family.
Ms. Shanmugam believes a lack of restrooms may also be a factor.
” They worry about insects and lizards in the trees, or men peeping to look at them”, she says.
They frequently do n’t feel safe, so they just hold it in the day and then go to the restroom when they finally get home.
Finding answers
The findings of the study in Tamil Nadu are being taken very seriously, says Dr Tp Selbavinayagam, the country’s director for public health.
” We already provide monetary compensation to pregnant women, but probably we need to look into options for providing other jobs as well,” he says.
The state government offers poorer women 18, 000 rupees ( £170 ) when they reach 12 weeks of pregnancy, to try to ease some of their financial pressures.
Yet, much of the power to protect these lower- paid employees rests with workplace bosses.
Thillai Bhasker, a brick-kiln operator, has built enormous metal roofs with unique heat-protection coatings on them to give his workers much-needed shade on the fringes of Chennai.
” Business owners may be wise enough to know how to keep the people”, he says. ” If you take care of them, they may take care of you”.
He also mentioned that he intended to construct just toilets for people.
Some organizations are also holding training classes to teach people how to defend themselves in the heat. Additionally, insulated containers are being made to keep the temperature of the water.
When she became pregnant once within a few years of her pregnancy, Sumathy had no choice but to keep working in extreme heat.
However, she received certain recommendations from doctors and SRIHER researchers regarding how to better protect herself. A good daughter and son were born to Samantha.
She did return house to them now after her long change.
Exhausted, frightened, but so thankful they are it.