Months of intense fires across Indonesia, driven by the El Niño weather phenomenon, have been choking the country in toxic smoke, according to Wiadomości Onet. The outlet reports that the impact on residents is so severe that the most serious consequences of the crisis begin even before a child is born.
The fires have burned for months, and the resulting haze has spread through the country rather than staying confined to the areas where the flames are burning. Wiadomości Onet describes the smoke as relentless and says it is pressing hard on the people living with it.
El Niño is the climate pattern linked to hotter, drier conditions in the region, which the reporting identifies as the force behind the scale of this fire season. According to Wiadomości Onet, the blazes have been sustained by that pattern for months on end.
The outlet frames the health burden as the central concern, noting that the heaviest damage does not wait for birth but begins during pregnancy. The report does not offer further detail on the specific health outcomes involved.
What to watch next: whether the fires subside as the El Niño pattern shifts, and whether Indonesian authorities or health researchers publish further assessments of the toll on pregnant women and newborns.