and healing for catherine. from the rafah border crossing, antonio guterres said... now on bbc news, india's mothers: bearing the heat. a population of 1.4 billion. one of the largest economies in the world. poverty, though still rife, is in steady decline. it's a place so full of life, of soul, of hope... ..of progress. but all that is under threat. as our planet warms,

india is predicted to become one of the first countries in the world where temperatures will top the safe limit for people simply resting in the shade. and it could start happening in the next decade. it will impact the lives and livelihoods of the poorest first, who will have no choice but to continue working in the dangerous heat. translation: in the hot weather, the sun burns my body. _ quite... it is high right now. we will have more kidney disease. we will have more heat strokes. only if we work can we have food on our plates. the world health organization says it's pregnant women and young children who will face some of the gravest consequences of all from climate change. but simple solutions to better protect women are there. this is a big challenge, which we anticipate, and everyone has got a role to do.

teach them about the recipes that can cool their body. and before, this was all open? open, open. so the sun would just be on the workers? yeah. translation: iconsider- being pregnant a great blessing. every morning, lavanya wakes at 5am and heads to the fields of flowers close to her home. there she spends three hours picking some of the thousands of delicate tube roses that have sprung up overnight. translation: only through work can we have food on our plates. _ that's our situation. one person's income is not enough to feed the whole family, so it's important that i contribute. it gives me immense satisfaction. lavanya gets paid around 300 rupees for her efforts.

that's just under £3, or $4. her in—laws own the fields she works in. but now she carries more than just her collection buckets. lavanya is six months pregnant. when the test came back positive, i was so happy. i had some dizziness in the first couple of months, but i was ok. at five months, i started feeling the baby kicking. it is tough working in the heat. i wear a shirt and a headscarf to protect myself from the scorching sun, but i sweat a lot. and that causes a burning sensation on my skin, in my eyes. i feel itchy all over my legs, and it can get painful. we know that extreme heat can cause significant strain on the body and can even lead to death.

but there's now increasing evidence that pregnant women and their unborn babies face unique risks. a new study investigating the impact of heat stress on pregnant women here in tamil nadu followed 800 mums—to—be. researchers found that those who worked in extreme heat faced double the risk of stillbirth, premature birth, miscarriage and low birth weight. the mechanisms around why this is happening are not well understood. one theory is around possible reduced blood flow to the baby, because when the mother gets too hot, blood could be diverted away from the foetus to cool the mother down. the study took into account the various workloads of the women, but they still found that heat was a key risk factor. it's already getting so hot here. how are you going to cope when the summer really kicks in? translation: it will be tough doing this work with a big bump. _ even now, i get severe back pain.

i will try and take lots of breaks and drink plenty of water. another day, another field, another young woman works hard to put food on the table for her family. hacking down the thick stems of sugar cane is backbreaking work. these workers start early in the morning to avoid the worst of the hot sun. it's around 28 degrees at the moment, and very humid. i've been sweating quite a lot all morning. the workers earn around 600 rupees a day. that's around £6, $8. and almost all of it is spent on feeding their extended families each day. by mid—morning, it's time for the workers to take a well—earned is—minute break. they gather together, cool down in a shady spot and share their breakfast. nearby, 28—year—old sandhiya and i also find a covered area to chat.

she has two children, but her first pregnancy ended in tragedy. translation: | used to work - the whole day when i was pregnant. i wouldn't take much rest. my legs would get so swollen and painful. i remember being thirsty all the time and out of breath. one day, i was cutting the crops in the paddy fields. i had felt some pain in my abdomen in the morning, but i came to work anyway. i tied up the bags of paddy and tried lifting them onto my head, and i suddenly felt an intense pain in my stomach. i started bleeding heavily. i went to see the doctor in the evening and they told me my baby had died. most of us women who have miscarriages never find out why their babies died.

but do you think that working out in the heat could have had anything to do with it? translation: i think so. i think standing in the heat for hours could have had an impact. sandhiya had to take several months off work after her loss. she tells me the family built up huge debts during that time, which they're still paying off. translation: | still think— about that baby a lot and wonder why the child isn't with me. was it because i worked so hard in the sun? i don't know. i think about it and just feel so bad. india is one of the countries most exposed and vulnerable to heat globally. the number of hot days and hot nights are projected to double — or even quadruple — by 2050, according to india's centre for policy research. i wanted to better understand how the researchers behind the study

on heat stress and pregnancy have reached their troubling conclusions. we pick up rekha shanmugam, who's from the sri ramachandra research institute in chennai. she's been investigating the impact of heat stress on pregnancy for the last seven years and wanted to show me how she's been doing it. throughout her study, her team would set up this temperature gauge, measuring the level of heat workers were exposed to during their shifts on several days throughout their pregnancies. this is environmental heat stress monitor... this gauge doesn'tjust measure your standard temperature. it also takes into account humidity and radiant heat. the safe threshold for people working in a field like this one, measured in what's called wetbulb globe temperature, is 27.5 degrees celsius.

now the temperature is 29.5 degrees centigrade. quite... it is high right now. we're going to walk for a prolonged period. with this temperature, they are more prone for heat—related illnesses and other effects, especially for the pregnant women. they are more prone for adverse pregnancy outcomes such as miscarriages, low birth weight, preterm birth, stillbirth, and congenital birth defects, too. how surprised were you when those results came? because that's a big difference. double the risk. actually, i was quite surprised. this result can be used as a basic, lay a foundation for the other studies. there is a long way to go in order to find the exact biological mechanism behind this. that may help us to improve the reproductive health of the women globally. although scientists don't know why this is happening, previous research by rekha and her team has found many women in general avoid drinking at work because they don't want to have to go to the toilet.

rekha thinks this could be an aggravating factor. we found that the prevalence of about 50 percentage of women have reported the urogenital issues such as burning sensation, changes in urine colour, changes in urine volume, too, because of inadequate toilet access in the workplaces. avoiding drinking when working this hard for hours in the heat, especially when pregnant, can be extremely dangerous. many women worry about being accosted by men when trying to use the loo. so there are no portaloos here. there's nowhere specific to go to the toilet. but this, behind a bunch of bushes, is kind of the safest area that many of these women can come. i've been pointed to this tree. this is where people tend to go. it can be very uncomfortable. it's actually not very private. and they said that they really worry about snakes and other insects here.

so, many women have said that theyjust hold it in and they don't go during the day. women make up the backbone of what's called the informal workforce, people who are generally low paid and have very few legal, social and financial protections. it can make it harder for them to get access to government subsidies, including payments during pregnancy here in tamil nadu, aimed at improving maternal health. it's the poorer informal workers who are generally most at risk of suffering from the effects of heat. i also meet these women in each trimester... people like sumathy. she turns up to this cucumber field in between her otherjobs to earn what she can. she lost her baby three months into her pregnancy. since they last met, sumathy explains, her husband has died. she's now the sole breadwinner for her two young children and mother—in—law. sumathy tells me she's been

working in the fields since she was i2—years—old and earns around 400 rupees — or £4 — a day. "picking the prickly cucumber," she says, "burns my hands "after a while, especially in the heat." taking a breakfrom her work, sumathy told me about the day she lost her baby. translation: i used to feel so exhausted. | i also did not know how to look after myself as it was my first pregnancy. i felt very unwell. so i went to the doctor, who told me i had a miscarriage. i just lost it. i shouted and i cried. i could not tolerate the fact that my baby was no more. i'm very sorry to hear about your loss. i have had miscarriages as well, and i... ..know how hard it is.

translation: my husband took care of me at that time. - when i was helplessly crying... ..he would lay me on his lap and console me. i don't know what i would have done without him. sumathy will never know whether working in this kind of extreme heat had anything to do with her losing her baby. but there is now increasing evidence that it can have an impact on pregnancies. and that is why this type of research is so important, because women need to know about these risks in order to be able to better protect themselves against them. sumathy did get pregnant again within a couple of years. and having got advice on how to look after herself from rekha and doctors, she went on to have two healthy children. tonight, after her long shift, she will return home to them. exhausted, anxious,

but so grateful they are there. our beautiful planet. precious. delicate. fleeting. everything is balanced so perfectly to support life. but our world is predicted to warm by almost three degrees celsius by the end of the century, compared to pre—industrial times... ..resulting in more heatwaves, more droughts, which will impact food supplies, and widening areas where mosquito—borne viruses can thrive. and it will be the most vulnerable, the young, the old, the poor... ..women carrying new life inside them, that will — and already are — being hit hardest.

india, with its massive population, remains one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases globally. and there's little sign of things slowing down. the country is making big investments in renewable energy, but it continues to rely heavily on fossil fuels along with the rest of the world. india has made enormous strides in improving maternal health across the country in the last decade. i've come to chennai to meet the director of public health for tamil nadu state. today, he's leading a meeting on the roll—out of a vaccine for cervical cancer. the number of persons which we are going to reach is a very huge. he helps look after the health of 82 million people, of which around one million are pregnant at any one time. all the communicable diseases are bound to increase when there is a challenge in the climate or the environment.

this is a big challenge, which we anticipate, and everyone has got a role to do currently. then only at least we can mitigate or we can prevent the further damage at least. what things can be done to help these women? outdoor work, if there are no other options, definitely at a periodical interval. we can have them to get rehydrated and take sufficient rest in between. we've been out. we've met some women working in these kinds of environments. actually, what all of them said was that they don't have access to toilets, that they are having to go outside or, and this is worse in a way, that they are holding it in. is there part of a health strategy plan to implement more toilets? see, this is the basic rate which we should ensure to everyone, including the pregnant women. see, this type of employment or the employer, they should be given a responsibility or they should be made to give this facility to all the working women. much of the power to protect these

low—paid workers rests with the bosses of these types of workplaces. thank you for inviting us here. thank you. the owner of this brick kiln on the outskirts of chennai was keen to show me the sheds he's built to provide shade for his workers. and before this was all open? open, open. so the sun would just be on the workers? yeah, yeah. ah. it's made a big difference. yes. he says using machines to make the bricks, instead of human hands, has also made the work safer for employees, and is making him more money. he also provides easy access to clean drinking water, and tells me he's planning to build women—only toilets. translation: women no longer have to toil under the sun. _ this kind of work can be very difficult for them. they used to have more health problems, but since we started using the machinery and got these sheds, they don't suffer as much. until recently, all of this was open air. these labourers would be doing this

work under the glaring sun. but since this shed has gone up, these workers can be much more comfortable as they're doing theirjobs. and the boss here tells me that productivity has increased significantly, too. she tells me it's slightly cooler in the shade and feels much better, because outside is extremely hot. life is still clearly tough for these workers and theirfamilies, most of whom live on site. many of the children attend a nearby school, working hard in the hope that one day they'll be able to leave this level of poverty and achieve their full potential. 400 miles north of chennai in hyderabad, a busy mother and baby clinic is getting underway. and pakasri is six months pregnant and has come for a checkup with her daughter, brunali. we give checkup for the people

who can't afford... dr divhya says she and her staff see many problems associated with the heat come the summer months. they come with the dizziness, most common symptom is that. and they come with generalised weakness, or they say they can't do any work. and also, then we will go for a blood pressure checkup. after that, we'll get to know that those patients are under hypertension group. so... so, low blood pressure. yeah. we advise them oral rehydration and...or we inject normal saline for boosting up their energy. all is going well for pakasri and her baby. she's been given advice on how to stay safe in the heat, keeping herself well hydrated, avoiding being out in the hottest time of day. armed with this vital reminder, she heads home to rest. now we have warmer nights, so that...

back in chennai, academics studying for their doctorates are trying to better understand the impact of heat on the body. ..so they are forced to continue working. and when the brain... professor vidhya venugopal heads up the department of environmental health at the sri ramachandra institute. among her students is rekha, who has recently returned from the field where we saw her last. professor venugopal oversaw rekha's research, and is now leading these academics in the next set of studies, many of them funded by the uk government and the uk—based wellcome trust. cucumbers. very, very, very cooling, but very cheap. one of the new studies is looking into low—cost food and drinks, which can be recommended to workers. this is one of the best way to cool your water... how concerned are you about what you're seeing with more frequent heatwaves, both here and around the world, and our health? one need to take this pretty

seriously, is what i would say. we will have more kidney disease. we will have more heat strokes. we will have more heat exhaustion. and productivity losses will be there. there'll be lot of people who will be losing their wages. who will be losing working hours. so this will have a large impact not only on the health, but also on the economy of the countries. she tells me, in the last decade alone, this city of chennai has seen temperatures rise by almost half a degree. climate change is happening. we are seeing that globally, all the countries are warming. and then it's going to be more difficult for people to be actually working outside — let's say about two or three decades from now. by 2050, people probably will not be able to work outside at all in the afternoons. it's water delivery day in a large slum in hyderabad city.

these are some of the poorest communities in the country, and some of those most at risk to the impact of climate change. so the water tank has just pulled in. this brings water about every four days, and each family gets two of these large blue drums each. and that's for everything. it's for cooking, it's for cleaning, it's for staying hydrated. once the precious water is collected, some of the women gather for an event put on by researchers and a climate and health group, aimed at better understanding women's experiences and offering simple solutions. neloufer is leading today's session. "summer is on the way", she says. "come. we women are going to sit and discuss how the heat will affect us." the women talk about how hard it is to take a break at work. most of them are domestic cleaners. one woman tells how some employers allow fans,

but others switch them off because they don't want to pay for the electricity. others tell how maids are often banned from using the toilets at employers' homes, and one described how a friend ended up wetting herself, for which she was promptly fired. to them... to understand this heat risk is... ..and they cannot stay back in the home, because they have to go to the work. they have to go out under the sun, and they have to work for their children to fill their stomachs. and so what we are doing is, through these sessions, we are making them aware that making little changes in their lifestyle, like carrying a water bottle and carrying an umbrella with them, may help them with the heat risk. can we go and see where you live? all right. 0k. after the session, i meet with 18—year—old esther. she's six months pregnant. esther tells me the scarcity of water means she's already limiting how much she's using.

she wanted to show me how her and her husband will manage when the little one arrives. together, they will share this small, windowless space. translation: i think about how hot it's going to get a lot. _ we will be living in this small hut. there's a scarcity of water. i'm worried about how i'll get clean water for my baby. i know it's going to be tough. in spite of all the challenges esther faces, she says she is full of hope. translation: iconsider- being pregnant a great blessing. i am going to have a baby. i'm going to be called "mother". back in the rose fields of tiruvannamalai, lavanya heads

home at the end of her shift. a refreshing, cool coconut juice awaits. lavanya wants what any mum—to—be wants for their child. translation: the baby should be born healthy. | when the baby smiles at me, i'll be so happy. i want to buy them nice clothes and take them to lots of places. what will they look like? what will they study? i'm so curious. the work continues to find out more about how our bodies will manage in ourwarming world. from the bottom of my heart, ijust wanted to help these women. particularly pregnant women, because they have to take care of themselves and also the baby. so as a nurse, i can understand...

and also a woman and a mother of two kids. i can understand the feeling of those women. understanding the unique risks to pregnant women as our planet warms is crucial. and simple interventions are there, but women need to know about the risks. because protecting women against changes to our climate... ..is protecting life. if you have been affected by this story, head to bbc action line. good afternoon. some impressive cloud scapes out there today. yes, some spells of sunshine, but these big shower clouds bringing some very heavy downpours of rain, a bit of thunder and lightning thrown in. some of the showers have been wintry over high ground in the north. here it is on the satellite picture. these lumpy shower clouds pushing south eastwards across the uk. just about wherever

you are through the rest of the day, you could see a shower, some of the showers heavy with hail and thunder, still wintry over the highest ground in scotland, say above five or 600 metres elevation. windy out there, particularly gusty for western and northern coast. and so that is affecting the feel of the weather. temperatures on the thermometer — nine or ten degrees, factor in the strength of the wind. the feels like temperatures which include the wind chill around five or six degrees. so, as we head into the evening, still a few showers around. in fact, some more persistent rain and mountain snow across some parts of eastern and northeastern scotland. elsewhere, i think most of the showers will fade through the night. it will stay fairly blustery. the winds easing down a little bit across western parts, but staying windy enough to stop the temperatures dropping too far, three, four or five degrees for most of us into tomorrow morning. now, we start tomorrow with this very weak ridge of high pressure just trying to build its way in. and that will give us a window

of drier and quieter weather. still quite windy close to the east coast. as we start the day with one or two showers, we'll keep some showers in northern scotland, wintry over high ground and then through the afternoon cloud will gather out towards the west. that mayjust bring a little bit of rain into western counties of northern ireland through the second half of the afternoon. temperatures a little bit up on where they are today, actually, around 11 or 12 degrees. now, through sunday night and into monday, this frontal system tries to push its way in from the west. there is still a little bit of uncertainty about how much progress this front will make northwards and eastwards. i think the greatest chance of rain on monday is across southwest england, also parts of wales, northern ireland. but it may be that this wet weather ends up pushing a little bit further north. and if it gets into scotland, well, that could give some snow. at this stage, it looks like just some wintry showers in northern scotland. many eastern parts of the uk largely dry. but through the week ahead, we will see showers

live from london, this is bbc news. four suspects arrested, after 133 killed in a moscow concert hall attack. president putin vows they will be punished. meanwhile, the islamic state group says four of its fighters carried out the attack releasing a photo of those it claims are responsible. i of those it claims are responsible. am in windsor, princess i am in windsor, the hometown of the princess of wales and her family, after she revealed her cancer diagnosis. she said it came as a huge shock, but she is feeling stronger every day. and in the middle east, the un secretary—general calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire while on a visit to the rafah border crossing.

hello, i'm rich preston. welcome to the programme, it is good to have your company. we begin in russia. this is live in moscow, it'sjust gone 6pm, where it's being reported that 11 people suspected of involvement in an attack on one of moscow's biggest concert venues have been arrested, including four of the assailants. that's according to russia's internal security service, the fsb. in the last hour, russia's interior ministry has said the four suspected gunmen detained are all foreign citizens. officials in russia say the death toll from the attack has risen to 133 people. in a statement a short time ago, russia's president, vladimir putin, called the attack a "barbaric terrorist act". he announced that the 24th march would be a national day of mourning. the president said "all those

responsible will be punished".