Climate education as adaptation: A scoping review of programs advancing maternal and newborn health

Climate change is a growing threat to maternal and newborn health (MNH). Alongside urgent emissions reductions, effective efforts to address climate-driven health disparities - both in MNH and more broadly - will require a stronger collective understanding of climate impacts on health. This will necessitate further investment not only in climate and health research, but also in climate and health education and literacy. Critically, the extent to which climate education can or is being used to advance MNH remains unknown.

We conducted a scoping review of climate education programs specifically focused on MNH. We searched PubMed, Embase, and gray literature through May 2025 and consulted relevant experts. All programs were screened independently and in duplicate, with discrepancies resolved via discussion.

We screened 2,138 papers and programs, 45 of which underwent full text review. Seventeen programs were included in our sample. The majority were implemented in low and middle income countries (LMICs) (n = 9) and the United States (n = 6). Most aimed to improve healthcare provider and/or patient understanding of climate-specific risks to MNH. Nearly half were embedded into existing MNH care pathways. Four programs conducted formal evaluations, all of which reported positive outcomes; two programs that assessed health impacts found significant reductions in adverse climate-related health outcomes following MNH-specific climate education.

MNH-specific climate education may be an important element of effective climate adaptation, with the potential to enhance climate knowledge and perceived self-efficacy, and improve climate-mediated health outcomes in pregnancy and postpartum. Further research is needed to evaluate existing programs and guide the development of evidence-based policies and interventions.