‘Heat stress now hits 79% of Bangladeshi children aged 0-9’

Climate change is exposing around 22 million Bangladeshi children aged 0-9 – some 79% of that age group – to at least one additional month of dangerous heat stress every year, according to a study published in Science Advances.
The research, led by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), also found that climate change has nearly tripled the number of Bangladeshi children experiencing at least five months, or 150 days, of dangerous heat stress annually – rising from around 9 million in a world without climate change to 26 million today, or 91% of children aged 0-9.
The study measures dangerous humid heat using a wet-bulb globe temperature above 28°C in the shade, a threshold at which high humidity limits the body's ability to cool itself through sweating.
Children are especially vulnerable, as their bodies heat up faster than adults, they sweat less efficiently and they depend on adults for protection. Prolonged heat exposure can cause dehydration and heatstroke, worsen existing conditions and affect learning and cognitive development.
Under a 1.5°C warming scenario, the study projects 87% of Bangladeshi children could face at least one additional month of heat stress annually, rising to 98% under 2°C of warming.
Across South Asia, 167.4 million children aged 0-9 – around 62% of the region's children in that age group – are currently exposed to at least one additional month of climate-driven heat stress, with those facing five months or more nearly doubling to 156.6 million. 
Globally, the study found up to 560 million children aged 0-9 face at least one additional month of heat stress each year, a higher share than any other age group.
Rosa Pietroiusti, the study's lead author and a PhD researcher at VUB, said children in developing countries face disproportionate exposure to climate extremes.
Dr Shimul Mazumdar, senior consultant (child) at General Hospital, Cumilla, said symptoms including sudden vomiting, excessive fatigue, restlessness and loss of appetite were being observed more frequently among children.
The researchers said poverty, inadequate housing, limited access to cooling and overstretched health systems leave children with fewer ways to cope, and called for stronger heat-health preparedness in Bangladesh's health, education and social protection systems.