We are the world’s foremost network of experts on the impacts of heat on human health.11

“Mothers get really exhausted!” The lived experience of pregnancy in extreme heat: Qualitative findings from Kilifi, Kenya

Heat exposure in pregnancy is associated with a range of adverse health and wellbeing outcomes, yet research on the lived experience of pregnancy in high temperatures is lacking. We conducted qualitative research in 2021 in two communities in rural Kilifi County, Kenya, a tropical savannah area currently experiencing severe drought. Pregnant and postpartum women, their male spouses and mothers-in-law, community health volunteers, and local health and environment stakeholders were interviewed or participated in focus group discussions. Pregnant women described symptoms that are classically regarded as heat exhaustion, including dizziness, fatigue, dehydration, insomnia, and irritability. They interpreted heat-related tachycardia as signalling hypertension and reported observing more miscarriages and preterm births in the heat. Pregnancy is conceptualised locally as a ‘normal’ state of being, and women continue to perform physically demanding household chores in the heat, even when pregnant. Women reported little support from family members to reduce their workload at this time, reflecting their relative lack of autonomy within the household, but also potentially the ‘normalisation’ of heat in these communities. Climate change risk reduction strategies for pregnant women in low-resource settings need to be cognisant of local household gender dynamics that constrain women’s capacity to avoid heat exposures.

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1st Global Forum on Heat and Health Summary Report

The 1st Global Forum on Heat and Health (Hong Kong, China, 17-20 December 2018) brought together over 150 interdisciplinary experts and practitioners from 33 countries. The Forum formally launched the Global Heat Health Information Network (GHHIN) – its parent inter-agency coordination body and governance mechanism – and informed a global common action agenda for heat risk management to human health. This summary report covers the call to action, action agenda, and contents of the Forum broken down by GHHIN organizational pillar.

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A Brief Guidance For The Protection Of Employees Against The Effects Of Heat Stress For Outdoor Works

Occupational exposure to heat can result in injuries, disease, reduced productivity, and death. In addition, there is evidence that heat stress is an increasing problem for many workers, particularly those located in densely populated areas closer to the equator where temperatures are expected to rise in relation to the changing climate. This guidelines describes what you, as an employer, may need to do to protect your employees from heat stress in the workplace. It will also be useful to employees and their safety representatives. It tells you about the risks to the body from overheating when working in hot environments and gives practical guidance on how to avoid it; personal protective equipment and clothing that can be used to control heat stress.

In many jobs, heat stress is an issue all year round but this information also applies during the hot summer months where there may be an increased risk of heat stress for some workers who works outdoor. The employer and your employees must be aware of how to work safely in heat, the factors that can lead to heat stress, and how to reduce the risk of it occurring.

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A case study of the heat-health vulnerability of informal settlement residents in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Heat has the potential to become one of the most significant public health impacts of climate change in the coming decades. Increases in temperature have been linked to both increasing mortality and morbidity. Cities have been recognized as areas of particular vulnerability to heat’s impacts on health, and marginalized groups, such as the poor, appear to have higher heat-related morbidity and mortality. Little research has examined the heat vulnerability of urban informal settlements residents in Africa, even though surface temperatures across Africa are projected to increase at a rate faster than the global average.

This paper addresses this knowledge gap through a mixed-methods analysis of the heat-health vulnerability of informal settlement residents in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The heat exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity of informal settlement residents were assessed through a combination of climate analyses, semi-structured interviews with local government actors and informal settlement residents, unstructured interviews with health sector respondents, a health impacts literature review, and a stakeholder engagement workshop.

The results suggest that increasing temperatures due to climate change will likely be a significant risk to human health in Dar es Salaam, even though the city does not reach extreme temperature conditions, because informal settlement residents have high exposure, high sensitivity and low adaptive capacity to heat, and because the heat-health relationship is currently an under-prioritized policy issue. While numerous urban planning approaches can play a key role in increasing the resilience of citizens to heat, Dar es Salaam’s past and current growth and development patterns greatly complicate the implementation and enforcement of such approaches. For African cities, the findings highlight an urgent need for more research on the vulnerability and resilience of residents to heat-health impacts, because many African cities are likely to present similar characteristics to those in Dar es Salaam that increase resident’s vulnerability.

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