Karachi, March 08, 2022 (PPI-OT):When Dr Adelaide Lusambili, researcher at AKU’s Department of Population Health, received news that she would be presenting at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP26, she could not contain her excitement. This was to be her first time presenting research findings on an international platform.
“It was a key moment for me, not only to showcase our research but also to represent the Aga Khan University on a global climate change stage. Our study is the first of its kind in Africa because there are so few African universities presenting scientific work in climate change,” she said. “We are still getting inquiries into our work to date.”
Dr Adelaide is part of the Climate Health and Maternal Neonatal Health Africa (CHAMNHA) consortium of researchers from the UK, Norway, Sweden, South Africa, Burkina Faso, USA and Kenya studying the effects of heat exposure on the health of pregnant women and their new-borns.
In Kenya, the study was conducted in Kilifi in February and April 2021, followed by a stakeholder’s co-design workshop in May 2021. Currently, Dr Adelaide is leading on the implementation of a behaviour change intervention that aims at reducing the effect of heat exposure on vulnerable mothers and their new-borns.
Findings from their research indicates that during pregnancy, delivery and in the post-partum period, pregnant women and their new-borns are affected by extreme heat at the individual, household and community levels.
“At the community level, extreme heat may cause pregnant women to remain in their homes for fear of walking in the heat, thereby affecting their social relations and reducing attendance at both the antenatal and post-partum services. Heat exposure has a direct bearing on the new-born’s physical health and their ability to breastfeed as well as the mother’s ability to perform Kangaroo Mother Care for preterm babies.”
This interest in linkages between climate change and health did not start in Kilifi for Dr Adelaide. In the UK, where she lives, she had previously done work on the effects of extreme cold winter and health in aging populations. When the research on heat exposure came calling, it was an issue of ‘being in the right place, at the right time’.
“When you look at exposure to cold and heat, the effects are the same but the causes are different. I’ve always been keen on the environment because I believe it has a big bearing on everything we do.”
In celebration of International Women’s Day, Dr Adelaide believes women need to study their own problems because their stories can be better told from their perspective. She wants women and young girls in science to be empowered to study climate change.
“We know our lived experiences so we can better explain it to the world – men can’t do that for us. I was reading literature review and I found that in the U.S where research is better established, pets are more likely to be mentioned as a vulnerable population than pregnant women. It’s simply because we don’t have many women in that space to represent us.” Dr Adelaide is taking that bold step and perhaps will motivate other women scientists to follow her lead.
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