Extreme Heat Waves Threaten Health: Urgent Actions Needed to Prevent Fatalities

Human health is at peril as the climate crisis continues to rage. The crisis is causing diverse health impacts, such as heat stress, heart disease, asthma, and infectious diseases like dengue and cholera.

Heat waves are at the top of the list for hurting human health. The impacts are hazardous to the whole being of the human body.

Among the impacts include dehydration, kidney diseases, mental health, respiratory disease, heat cramps and heat stroke.

Heat stress has become the most dangerous and leading cause of deaths related to weather. Extreme heat aggravates other underlying illnesses of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, asthma and mental health. In addition, it increases the risk of accidents and transmission of infectious diseases.

Alarmingly, the number of people exposed to extreme heat waves is on the rise around the world. Studies conducted between 2000-2019 reveal over 489,000 deaths occur every year.

Age and health status, including exposure to occupation and socio-economic activities, vindicate the vulnerability to heat waves.

Luckily, the adverse heat-related health effects are preventable to a great extent. The prevention will require some actions at various levels.

These actions include receiving early warnings from meteorological experts, offering timely public and medical advice, improving housing and urban planning, and swiftly ensuring the health care and social systems act in an emergency.

Incorporating these actions into a defined heat-health plan will save lives from the worldwide adverse effects.

The guidance was born through the EuroHEAT project that ventured into improving public health responses to extreme heat waves. It was co-funded by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Commission.

It elaborates on the integrality of developing heat-health action plans, defining their characteristics and core elements. An impressive number of European countries have commenced implementing and evaluating the same.

To every individual, protect yourself from heat waves by keeping your home cool, staying out of heat, taking enough water to remain hydrated and protecting yourself from the scorching sun.