Fiji, Oct. 6 -- UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell has warned that rising temperatures are creating a new and potentially deadly threat to pregnant women, newborns and health systems, with the poorest and most vulnerable communities facing the greatest risks.

Speaking at a Wellcome event on the first day of the official Pre-COP31 ministerial meeting in Fiji on Monday, Stiell said extreme heat was increasingly affecting pregnancy and birth and warned that climate change was deepening existing inequalities in access to safe healthcare.

"The climate policy process is measured in degrees, targets and finance. But a deep test of climate action is far, far simpler: whether we protect life at its most fragile," Stiell said.

He...