Last week the World Health Assembly approved a resolution on Radiation and health: strengthening global protection, preparedness and response, marking the first time WHO Member States have agreed on a comprehensive approach covering both ionizing and non-ionizing radiation.
- Draft resolution: *Radiation and Health: strengthening global protection, preparedness and response* (EB158/CONF./1) <https://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/EB158/B158_CONF1-en.pdf>
Children are more sensitive to radiation than adults due to several physiological, anatomical, developmental, and behavioral factors. Because their cells replicate more frequently, children are more vulnerable than adults to DNA damage from ionizing radiation.
UNICEF recently released a report outlining the effects of ionizing and non-ionizing radiation on children’s health:
- Radiation and Children's Health | UNICEF <https://www.unicef.org/reports/radiation-and
childrens-health>
CHIFA profile:
Ruth A. Etzel is a Professor the George Washington University in the United States of America.
Previous messages in the thread for this response.
Lori Lake, South Africa
on May 24
Thank you Neil - the UNICEF technical note is particularly useful!
Others may be interested in the work of the Harvard Centre for the Developing Child in thinking through the impacts and potential strategies for addressing extreme heat in - and through - early childhood development programmes/centres: https://developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/ECSCEE-He...
Lori
Lori Lake
CHIFA profile:
Lori Lake is commissioning editor at the Children's Institute, University of Cape Town in South Africa. Professional interests: I convene our child rights and advocacy courses for Health and allied professionals, and co-chair the advocacy committee in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health. I am interested in how children's rights can serve as a "language of critique" and a "language of possibility" that enables paediatricians to listen more deeply to children in their care, to consider the contexts in which they live, and to take action to improve the quality of care and to address the broader social determinants of health. lori.lake AT uct.ac.za
Neil Pakenham-Walsh
on May 22
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
Lori Lake, South Africa
on May 20
Hi
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?
Lori
CHIFA profile:
Lori Lake is commissioning editor at the Children's Institute, University of Cape Town in South Africa. Professional interests: I convene our child rights and advocacy courses for Health and allied professionals, and co-chair the advocacy committee in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health. I am interested in how children's rights can serve as a "language of critique" and a "language of possibility" that enables paediatricians to listen more deeply to children in their care, to consider the contexts in which they live, and to take action to improve the quality of care and to address the broader social determinants of health. lori.lake AT uct.ac.za