The Impact of Climate Change on Maternal and Child Health in the Caribbean

Maternal health concerns the well-being of women during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. Climate change events often threaten maternal health because mothers and their offspring are more susceptible to environmental changes. In developing countries, 88% of children succumb to climate change-related deaths. The inherent vulnerability of mothers and their offspring to infections, illness, and malnourishment due to limited social services, healthcare, low household income, and dependency, are often to blame for the high mortality rate. Given that the literature on the impact of climate change events on maternal and child health in the Caribbean region is scarce, this chapter seeks to address this gap by using a secondary research approach. The impacts that climate change events in the Caribbean are likely to have on the maternal and child health of persons residing in flood-prone areas and coastal communities will be discussed. Like Nigeria, Ghana, and India, in the Caribbean, climate change events negatively impact the mortality of the mother and her child. The decline in the nutritional quality of food, amongst other health-related issues, also contributes to adverse pregnancy outcomes.