Dear Lori,
Thank you for your latest message. You say: "As we countdown towards what is predicted to be a super El-Nino, I am trying to track down and/or develop guidelines that capture and respond to the specific impacts of extreme heat on pregnant women, infants and young children - ie. what kinds of age-specific/concrete measures should we be putting in place to address these - from prevention and early identification (signs and symptoms) to first aid and when to seek emergency medical care. Can anyone point me in the right direction?"
The WHO website has a section on Heat and health (2026):
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-heat-and...
and they have published guidance for public health institutions (2008)
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789289071918
UNICEF have published 'Protecting children from heat stress: A technical note' (2023)
'Climate change is increasing the frequency, intensity and duration of heatwaves, making it urgent for everyone to B.E.A.T. the Heat for children'
I also found this Lancet Planetary Health paper:
CITATION: Volume 9, Issue 7101207 July 2025 Open access
Community-based heat adaptation interventions for improving heat literacy, behaviours, and health outcomes: a systematic review
Hamimatunnisa Johar et al.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196%2825%290...
Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org