By The PPH Foundation
Climate change is intensifying risks across the maternal health continuum, including postpartum haemorrhage. Disruptions caused by extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, and heatwaves often limit access to preventive services like cervical screening, allowing disease to progress undetected. When women present late in pregnancy or during labour with unmanaged cervical conditions, the likelihood of obstetric complications and severe bleeding rises sharply.
Heat stress, food insecurity, and displacement weaken maternal resilience and delay care-seeking, while strained health systems responding to climate-related crises frequently deprioritise routine antenatal services. Cervical disease that goes unnoticed during pregnancy can compromise labour, increase tissue trauma, and complicate uterine contraction after delivery, all of which are key contributors to postpartum haemorrhage.
Prof Julius Ogengo, Co-Lead of the End Postpartum Haemorrhage Initiative and a Professor of Human Anatomy, explains that “conditions affecting the cervix and reproductive tissues do not exist in isolation. When chronic stressors such as undernutrition, infection, and delayed care intersect, the body’s ability to respond safely to childbirth is significantly reduced, increasing the risk of severe bleeding.” His perspective highlights how climate-driven vulnerabilities translate into biological risk during labour and delivery.
Prof Moses Obimbo, Project Lead of the End Postpartum Haemorrhage Initiative, adds that “climate shocks expose the fragility of maternal health systems. When prevention fails upstream, postpartum haemorrhage becomes the final and often fatal outcome.” Implemented by the PPH Foundation in collaboration with the University of Nairobi, the Kenya Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society, and the Midwives Association of Kenya, the End PPH Initiative advocates for climate-resilient maternal health systems that protect screening, early detection, and continuity of care.
Preventing postpartum haemorrhage in a changing climate requires more than emergency response. It demands resilient systems that safeguard prevention, anticipate disruption, and ensure that women do not arrive in labour wards already at high risk of catastrophic bleeding.
Sources
World Health Organization, Climate change and maternal health
Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change
UNFPA, Climate resilience and reproductive health
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