Pregnant Women's Perception Regarding the potential Effect of climate change on Pregnancy Outcome

Background: Climate changes are the greatest threat to public health in the twenty-first century, a widespread issue with far-reaching effects especially in vulnerable population as pregnant women. Pregnant women's health may be improved by educating them about the hazards involved in their pregnancy. Aim of the study: To assess pregnant women's perception regarding the potential effect of climate change on pregnancy outcome. Research Design: A cross-sectional descriptive research design was implemented . Setting: This study was conducted at Maternal and Child health Center in in Fayoum city. Sample: A Convenient sample of 70 pregnant women. Tools for data collection: One tool (structured interviewing questionnaire sheets) was used to collect data which is divided into four parts ; Part 1: Demographic Characteristics, Part 2: Obstetric history, part 3: pregnant women's Awareness Assessment Sheet, part 4: a Likert attitude scale. Results: The study showed that 17.1% of the studied sample had satisfactory level of total knowledge about climate change. 65.7% of the studied sample had a negative attitude toward climate change there was highly statistically significant relation between total pregnant women’ knowledge and their total attitude, regarding climate change and its effect on pregnancy. Conclusion: The present study concluded that the majority of the studied sample had unsatisfactory knowledge & negative attitude about climate change . Recommendations: Design and implement awareness raising programme of climate change and its effect on women's health.