On a densely populated island in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, a group of pregnant women are waiting for the only midwife from Karachi to arrive in the midst of a heat wave.
Every week the Neha Mankani boat comes by ambulance to Baba Island, an old fishing village and reportedly one of the most populous islands in the world, home to about 6,500 people, of which 100,000 live. It covers an area of 15 square kilometers.
Climate change is causing global sea levels to rise, and rising temperatures are warming the Earth even more.
Until Neha Mankani's Ambulance started last year, pregnant women were at the mercy of circumstances.
Waiting at the door of her island clinic, 26-year-old Zainab Bibi is pregnant again after a miscarriage last summer.
“It was a very hot day, I wasn't feeling well, it took her husband several hours to get the boat owners to agree to go to Karachi – but by then it was too late,” she recalled. .'
“By the time I gave birth to my baby girl in the hospital, she was already dead,” he said.
Pakistan is among the countries most affected by extreme weather conditions as a result of climate change, where heat waves are hotter, longer and more frequent.
May and June this year saw a series of heat waves, which saw temperatures above 52 degrees Celsius (126 degrees Fahrenheit) for several days.
“Climate change does not affect everyone equally,” Neha Mankani, 38, said during the 20-minute boat ride.
He said that 'pregnant women and new-born children, postpartum women are definitely more affected. During the summer months we see an increase in the incidence of low birth weight, preterm birth and pregnancy loss.'
According to a study published last year in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, experts say women are at greater risk of stillbirth when their area temperatures rise by more than 90 percent of normal. do
“Before we had evidence, a lot was anecdotal, but we've been seeing the effects of climate change for some time,” Mankani said.
According to the United Nations, 154 women die out of every 100,000 women who give birth in Pakistan, which is a high maternal mortality rate, which is mainly due to the socio-economic status of young women, health facilities. There are barriers to achievement and limited decision-making options.
Mankani began her 16-year career as a midwife in a hospital in Karachi, where she worked in a high-risk ward and often treated women who belonged to five offshore islands. .
She founded the 'Mama Baby Fund' in 2015 and built the first clinic on the islands for pregnant and new mothers. “Everyone opened their homes to us,” he said.
Last year, a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week free boat ambulance service was launched, equipped to operate in stormy seas. This work was done in a region where the possibility of flooding is increasing.
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26-year-old Sabra Rashid gave birth to a baby girl named Isha two months ago. Earlier, her pregnancy was lost during the seventh month of pregnancy. She blames this painful loss on not reaching the hospital in time.
“At the pier, they made us wait, because they didn't want to take the boat for just two or three people,” he said. They asked us to wait for more passengers, even if there was an emergency.'
Girls on the impoverished islands are often married off at age 16, and marriage is seen as a means of protection for women in an area where polluted waters are destroying the fishing industry.
“Most of these girls don't know how to take care of themselves, they get serious infections from dirty water,” said Shahida Samar, an assistant at the clinic, wiping sweat from her face.
Shahida, 45, said basic advice is given to young mothers during the heat wave, such as using a dry and clean towel to wrap their babies, washing their breasts before feeding and avoiding dehydration. .
But with no access to potable water and a lack of electricity, heat-related problems are a problem for all islanders.
Neha Mankani's free boat ambulance service, launched last year, is equipped to operate in stormy seas (AFP).
Women are particularly at risk, who usually cook on wood fires in small rooms with no fans or adequate ventilation.
Ayesha Mansoor, 30, has four children and lives on the shores of Baba Island, where there is only four to five hours of electricity a day.
The path to their house is covered with a carpet of discarded plastic shoppers, which float into the water when the tide is high.
“Only those who have solar energy can deal with the heat better,” she said, sitting on her baby while swatting flies. We cannot afford it.'
Mariam Abubakar, an 18-year-old clinic assistant who grew up on the island, hopes to become the clinic's first full-time midwife.
She said: 'I used to wonder why we women don't have a facility here, a clinic that can only take care of us. When Neha opened her clinic, I saw a way I could help the women in my community.'
