**3. The Socioeconomic Aspects of Climate Change Impacts on Maternal and Child Health in Low-Income and Single-Parent Households in the Caribbean**

The emphasis will be placed on briefly discussing the possible economic implications that climate change events are likely to have on the health of pregnant women and their babies residing in low-income and single-parent households in the Caribbean. This discussion is from the perspective of changes in temperature, air pollution, drought, flooding, structural racism, and eco/climate anxiety.

Such a meaningful discussion is essential, as the climate change events discussed below will likely hurt both the mother and baby's pre- and post-natal healthcare. Moreover, such a dialogue is indeed crucial at this stage in the climate change discussion as all the issues highlighted below may prevent the Caribbean from achieving goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which focuses on

ensuring healthy lives and promotes well-being for all ages with particular reference to maternal health. This dialogue is necessary because climate change tends to impact maternal and childhood health in a myriad of ways, as discussed below, and the low-income status of many pregnant mothers in the Caribbean. This situation may prevent them from coping with the problems of food insecurity and accessing proper healthcare services and housing infrastructure (Homer et al. 2009).

### *3.1. Temperature-Related Impacts*

According to Molina and Saldarriaga (2016), there are five ways in which temperature can influence the growth and development of an unborn foetus in pregnant women. These are discussed briefly below and include the accessibility of food, maternal mental health, biological infectious diseases, extreme temperatures, and temperature-related diseases.
