“Extreme weather patterns and flooding worsened by climate change are adversely affecting the health of babies born in the Amazon rainforest.” (1/x) newscientist.com/article/226957…
In a study of 300,000 babies born between 2006 and 2017 in the Brazilian Amazon, researchers “found that babies in riverside communities were more likely to be born premature (before 37 weeks) and underweight following extreme weather like floods and droughts.”
(“Low birth weights and prematurity are associated with negative outcomes in education, health and income throughout life and subsequent generations.”)
“Babies born after periods of extreme rainfall were on average 183 grams lighter than those born at other times, with the gap increasing to 646 grams in the most socioeconomically disadvantaged groups.”
“This difference is higher than in previous studies examining the impact of extreme weather in other countries such as India, Mexico and Vietnam. The effect was present even when controlling for pregnancy duration–meaning the lower birth weight wasn’t solely due to prematurity.”
“Major floods and droughts in the Amazon have increased in both frequency and severity in recent decades due to global warming – floods in the Amazon basin are around five times more frequent today than they were a century ago.”
“Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, visited the state of Amazonas last week as cities were once again submerged by water, displacing more than 100,000 people.” (X/x)
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