HIGH Horizons - Implementing a Heat Early Warning System to protect pregnant and postpartum women from heat exposure in South Africa, Sweden and Zimbabwe
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Extreme heat is an increasingly dominant climate-related threat to maternal and newborn health, yet pregnant and postpartum women remain largely invisible within existing heat–health early warning systems. The HIGH Horizons project was established to address this gap by developing, implementing, and testing MotherHeat Alert, a personalised, context-sensitive heat–health Early Warning System (EWS) designed specifically for pregnant and postpartum women and their infants. This report, deliverable D4.6, documents the implementation of MotherHeat Alert across three contrasting settings—South Africa, Sweden and Zimbabwe—and distils operational learning relevant to equitable, scalable climate adaptation for maternal and newborn populations.
Authors: Machingura, Fortunate, Madimutsa, Gracious, Chinozvina, Tariro, Muronzie, Thabani, Nyakabau, Tapiwa, Nyoni, Leslie, Chawhanda, Christine, Sibanda, Brian Mqondisi, Tirado, Veronika, Hanson, Claudia, Stephansson, Olof, Munyewende, Pascalia Ozida, Mkwananzi, Sibusiso, Sawry, Shobna, Gao, Chuansi, Luchters, Stanley, HIGH Horizons Study Group
Institutions: Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Centre for Sexual Health and HIV AIDS Research, Karolinska Institutet, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, University of the Witwatersrand, Lund University, Ghent University, University of Thessaly, University of Graz, World Health Organization, Witshealth Consortium (Pty) Ltd. (South Africa), Technical University of Denmark
Language: English
Subfield: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G3210031810, G4443155986
OpenAlex ID: W7164045437