Extreme Heat Events and Public Health

This project examined evidence linking green building design strategies with the potential to enhance community resilience to extreme heat events. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method for a systematic review, it assessed the strength of the evidence supporting the potential for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) credit requirements to reduce the adverse effects of extreme heat events and/or enhance a building’s passive survivability (i.e., the ability to continue to function during utility outages) during those events. The PRISMA Flow Diagram resulted in the selection of 12 LEED for New Construction (LEED NC) credits for inclusion in the review. Following a preliminary scan of evidence supporting public health co-benefits of the LEED for Neighborhood Development rating system, queries were submitted in PubMed using National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings Terms. Queries identified links between LEED credit requirements and risk of exposure to extreme heat, environmental determinants of health, co-benefits to public health outcomes, and co-benefits to built environment outcomes. Public health co-benefits included reducing the risk of vulnerability to heat stress and reducing heat-related morbidity and mortality. The results lay the groundwork for collaboration across the public health, civil society, climate change, and green building sectors.

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HAPPI-Health: The Paris Agreement avoids substantial extreme heat-related mortality

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-5805 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Eunice Lo ◽

Dann Mitchell ◽

Antonio Gasparrini ◽

Ana Vicedo-Cabrera

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Paris Agreement ◽

Extreme Heat ◽

Health Impacts ◽

Large Ensemble ◽

Extreme Heat Events ◽

Warming Climate ◽

Global Mean ◽

Heat Events ◽

Related Mortality

<p>Extreme heat is associated with increased risks of human mortality. In a warming climate, extreme heat events are projected to intensify and become more frequent, potentially adversely affecting human health. The Paris Agreement aims at limiting global mean temperature rise this century to well below 2&#176;C above pre-industrial levels, but mitigation ambition as established in nations&#8217; initial Nationally Determined Contributions still implies ~3&#176;C warming. Quantifying the differences in extreme heat-related mortality between 1.5, 2 and 3&#176;C warming is essential to understanding the public health impacts of climate policies and how societies may adapt to a warming climate.</p><p>In this talk, I will show a new approach to projecting extreme heat-related mortality using the Half a degree Additional warming, Prognosis and Projected Impacts (HAPPI) large ensemble and health models. The large ensemble of HAPPI simulations of the 1.5, 2 and 3&#176;C warmer worlds allows extreme heat events and their health impacts in these worlds to be examined, rather than the mean climates. Using published case studies of the United States and Europe; I will demonstrate that limiting global mean warming from 3&#176;C to 2&#176;C or 1.5&#176;C above pre-industrial levels could reduce heat-related mortality associated with extreme heat events, with the 1.5&#176;C limit being substantially more beneficial to public health than 2&#176;C. In addition to climate change, I will discuss the roles of urbanisation, population changes and adaptation in future extreme heat exposure and heat-related mortality.</p>

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Organizing the institutional Public Health response to heat under climate change: A scoping review

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckz186.235 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽

Author(s):

M Boeckmann ◽

G Sanchez Martinez ◽

V Kendrovski

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Climate Change ◽

Scoping Review ◽

Good Practice ◽

Extreme Heat ◽

Public Health Response ◽

The Public ◽

Extreme Heat Events ◽

Health Action ◽

Heat Events

Abstract Background Extreme heat events are a major health risk, and their intensity and frequency are expected to increase under climate change. Heat health action plans (HHAP) aim to prevent adverse health effects through measures such as warning systems or communication campaigns. This scoping review asked whether the peer-reviewed Public Health literature suggests evidence for good practice governance of HHAP. Methods Databases PubMed and Web of Science were searched using search string combinations of heat, policy, warning system, and related terms. Data was extracted into a pre-defined extraction table based on theory-driven variables related to responsibilities, processes of stakeholder involvement, evaluation and whether good practice advice was provided. Findings were narratively synthesized and gaps in the current knowledge evaluated from a normative standpoint. Results Searches resulted in 6681 hits. After title, abstract and full text screening, 20 articles were assessed, 11 from Europe and 9 from other regions. Findings on structure of governance revealed that the Ministry of Health or Ministry for the Environment leads the development of an adaptation plan or HHAP guidance, while locally Departments of Health most often lead coordination of actions. Interagency cooperation was reported as essential, while in the majority of included studies the public are perceived as recipients of advice and warnings rather than as active stakeholders. Tailoring national guidance to local contexts as well as raising awareness of the plan not only among the public but also among all levels of management was one suggested good practice. Conclusions Few articles explicitly examine the organization of HHAP and no conclusions about whether a specific approach is superior can be drawn from these studies. To adequately protect human health from extreme heat events, an assessment of whether current governance structures are able to provide effective heat health action could be useful. Key messages The peer-reviewed literature does not provide information on which type of HHAP governance is superior. In the absence of a gold standard, it should be assessed what stakeholders and discourses are absent from HHAP governance to ensure vulnerable groups are adequately addressed by HHAP.

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Regional Climate Projections of Extreme Heat Events in Nine Pilot Canadian Communities for Public Health Planning

Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology ◽

10.1175/jamc-d-12-0341.1 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 52 (12) ◽

pp. 2669-2698 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Barbara Casati ◽

Abderrahmane Yagouti ◽

Diane Chaumont

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Planning ◽

Regional Climate ◽

Extreme Heat ◽

Health Impacts ◽

Climate Projections ◽

Extreme Heat Events ◽

Public Health Planning ◽

Statistical Correction ◽

Heat Events

AbstractPublic health planning needs the support of evidence-based information on current and future climate, which could be used by health professionals and decision makers to better understand and respond to the health impacts of extreme heat. Climate models provide information regarding the expected increase in temperatures and extreme heat events with climate change and can help predict the severity of future health impacts, which can be used in the public health sector for the development of adaptation strategies to reduce heat-related morbidity and mortality. This study analyzes the evolution of extreme temperature indices specifically defined to characterize heat events associated with health risks, in the context of a changing climate. The analysis is performed by using temperature projections from the Canadian Regional Climate Model. A quantile-based statistical correction is applied to the projected temperatures, in order to reduce model biases and account for the representativeness error. Moreover, generalized Pareto distributions are used to extend the temperature distribution upper tails and extrapolate the statistical correction to extremes that are not observed in the present but that might occur in the future. The largest increase in extreme daytime temperatures occurs in southern Manitoba, Canada, where the already overly dry climate and lack of soil moisture can lead to an uncontrolled enhancement of hot extremes. The occurrence of warm nights and heat waves, on the other hand, is already large and will increase substantially in the communities of the Great Lakes region, characterized by a humid climate. Impact and adaptation studies need to account for the temperature variability due to local effects, since it can be considerably larger than the model natural variability.

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Social connection as a public health adaptation to extreme heat events

Can J Public Health ◽

10.17269/s41997-020-00309-2 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 111 (6) ◽

pp. 876-879 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Amani Kafeety ◽

Sarah B. Henderson ◽

Amy Lubik ◽

Jesse Kancir ◽

Tom Kosatsky ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Older Adults ◽

Social Isolation ◽

Well Being ◽

Extreme Heat ◽

Public Health Issue ◽

Social Connection ◽

Extreme Heat Events ◽

Wide Range ◽

Heat Events

AbstractClimate change is an increasingly important public health issue, reflected in morbidity and mortality outcomes during extreme heat events. At the same time, the harms of social isolation with respect to a wide range of health outcomes are becoming better understood. Given that older adults are at higher risk during hot weather and at higher risk of social isolation, they are among those at highest risk for adverse impacts of extreme heat events. While specific strategies to reduce heat exposure have been described in the literature and promoted in public health practice, these may not be readily available to socially isolated older adults. As such, it is crucial to identify key approaches to address risk due to social isolation in the aging population, and to acknowledge their limitations and barriers. Interventions rooted in social connection, a concept widely applied in interventions for public health and social well-being, should be applied as a tool for adaptation to extreme heat events.

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Extreme heat events and health vulnerabilities among immigrant and newcomer populations

Environmental Health Review ◽

10.5864/d2021-011 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 64 (2) ◽

pp. 28-34

Author(s):

Joann Varickanickal ◽

K. Bruce Newbold

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Climate Change ◽

Health Effects ◽

Low Income ◽

Educational Status ◽

Extreme Heat ◽

Extreme Heat Events ◽

Canadian Context ◽

Socially Isolated ◽

Heat Events

With higher temperatures linked to increased human morbidity and mortality, the projected increase in the number of extreme heat events (EHEs) due to climate change poses increased risks. Although the old, individuals with pre-existing illnesses, the socially isolated, and individuals with low income or low educational status are more vulnerable to the health effects of EHEs and are targeted in public health messaging, newcomers and immigrants may be less aware of the dangers of EHEs. The impacts of EHEs on the immigrant and newcomer population are not well documented in the Canadian context and the combination of a greater number of heat events and a growing and diverse immigrant population necessitates further exploration. Framed by intersectionality and using Hamilton, Ontario, as a case example, this work explores the barriers that may affect immigrant’s awareness of EHEs.

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Assessing Adaptation Strategies for Extreme Heat: A Public Health Evaluation of Cooling Centers in Maricopa County, Arizona

Weather Climate and Society ◽

10.1175/wcas-d-16-0033.1 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 71-80 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Vjollca Berisha ◽

David Hondula ◽

Matthew Roach ◽

Jessica R. White ◽

Benita McKinney ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Word Of Mouth ◽

Extreme Heat ◽

Public Health Perspective ◽

Maricopa County ◽

The Public ◽

Extreme Heat Events ◽

Cooling Center ◽

Insight Into ◽

Heat Events

Abstract Preventing heat-associated morbidity and mortality is a public health priority in Maricopa County, Arizona (United States). The objective of this project was to evaluate Maricopa County cooling centers and gain insight into their capacity to provide relief for the public during extreme heat events. During the summer of 2014, 53 cooling centers were evaluated to assess facility and visitor characteristics. Maricopa County staff collected data by directly observing daily operations and by surveying managers and visitors. The cooling centers in Maricopa County were often housed within community, senior, or religious centers, which offered various services for at least 1500 individuals daily. Many visitors were unemployed and/or homeless. Many learned about a cooling center by word of mouth or by having seen the cooling center’s location. The cooling centers provide a valuable service and reach some of the region’s most vulnerable populations. This project is among the first to systematically evaluate cooling centers from a public health perspective and provides helpful insight to community leaders who are implementing or improving their own network of cooling centers.

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