This story is a collaboration between Vox and Grist and builds on Expecting worse: Giving birth on a planet in crisis, a project by Vox, Grist, and The19th that examines how climate change impacts reproductive health — from menstruation to conception to birth. Explore the full series here.

Climate change poses unique threats to some of the most foundational human experiences: giving birth and growing up. That’s the conclusion of a recent summary report compiled by researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which shows that climate change is exposing tens of millions of women and children to a worsening slate of physical, mental, and social risks — particularly if they live in the poorest reaches of the globe.

Extreme heat, malnutrition linked to crop failures, and air pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels are driving higher rates of preterm birth and infant and maternal death, undermining many countries’ efforts to improve public health. Already, 1 billion children experience a level of risk that the report characterizes as extreme.

“We’re still just beginning to understand the dangers,” the authors wrote in their review of the limited existing scientific literature on the subject, “but the problem is clearly enormous.”

Here are the 5 biggest takeaways:

Extreme heat is particularly dangerous for pregnant women and newborns.

High temperatures are linked to premature births, stillbirths, low birth weight, and congenital defects, the report said, pulling from a study conducted by Drexel University researchers in Philadelphia who found that, for every 1.8 degrees that the city’s daily minimum temperature rose above 75 degrees Fahrenheit, the risk of infant death grew about 22 percent.

“Whatever associations we’re seeing in the U.S. are much, much greater in other areas, particularly the areas of the world that are most impacted by heat and then also........

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