According to a report by the UN children’s fund Unicef, around 460 million minors are at risk of extreme heat in South Asia every year. In a global comparison, children in South Asian countries are most affected by extreme heat, the organization said in a report.
Accordingly, three quarters of all children in South Asia are at risk. Areas affected are those where the average temperature climbs above 35 degrees on more than 83 days per year. Children are much more at risk from extreme weather because their bodies are less able to cope with the heat than adults. Unicef named the consequences as a faster heartbeat, headaches, organ failure and fainting.
“The data clearly shows that the lives and well-being of millions of children in South Asia are increasingly threatened by heatwaves and high temperatures,” said Sanjay Wijesekera, UNICEF’s South Asia Director, in a statement. “We are particularly concerned about babies, young children, malnourished children and pregnant women.”
As an example, Unicef cites the southern Pakistani province of Sindh, which was hit by catastrophic floods a year ago. In those areas, more than 800,000 children were at risk of extreme heat in June 2023. During the summer 2022 monsoon season, rainfall temporarily submerged a third of Pakistan. More than 1700 people lost their lives. The disaster was followed by a humanitarian crisis. According to a World Bank report, around 33 million people were affected.
Website Unicef
