New heat support resource: The Heat Science Hotline

Extreme heat is increasingly affecting pregnancy, birth outcomes, and the conditions in which midwives provide care. To help address this, HERA (formerly Climate Resilience for All) has launched the Heat Science Hotline—a free, rapid-response service connecting practitioners, funders, journalists, and health care providers including midwives and midwife associations with global experts in heat, climate, and health. 

The Hotline provides tailored, evidence-based guidance to support your work—whether you are adapting care practices during heatwaves, protecting midwives in their programmes and health facilities, or strengthening community education to better support women and families. 

Questions are answered by a diverse, multidisciplinary board of experts spanning midwifery, epidemiology, climate science, urban planning, public health, data science, gender equity, and thermophysiology—ensuring that advice is both scientifically robust and grounded in frontline realities. ICM’s humanitarian engagement and climate support advisor- Neha Mankani serves as co-chair of this hotline.  

Midwives and associations can use the Hotline to: 

• Access practical, context-specific guidance on heat and maternal and newborn health  

• Protect midwives and clients in programmes, health facilities, and community settings  

• Strengthen advocacy and policy efforts with evidence  

• Better understand local heat risks and how to respond  

• Receive support in program development or resource mobilization 

This is a valuable new tool to support midwives in protecting themselves, and the health of women, newborns, and communities in a warming world.