The planet reached a critical milestone in 2024 — each of the last 10 years was the hottest on record. The global average temperature is rising, exceeding the Paris Climate Accord’s target, posing a tangible threat to human health.
Extreme heat is a silent killer, exacerbating chronic conditions and overwhelming healthcare systems. Children, the elderly, and outdoor workers face the greatest risks. And the suffering is worsened due to inequitable access to resources for marginalised communities — creating a climate justice crisis.
A study in Tamil Nadu found that women exposed to heat had a doubled risk of miscarriage. High occupational heat exposure was associated with an increased risk of adverse pregnancy and foetal outcome. And reactive measures like cooling centres were insufficient.
We need a proactive framework to guide investment and implementation. The HEAT (Health, Enablers, Architectonics, Technology) framework provides a structured approach to building heat resilience, focusing on key areas.
It includes protecting health (both human and animal) through localised heat and health action plans; prioritising and assessing the capacity of health systems; and training health workers on heat stress. Health services need to be strengthened with predictive early warning systems, integrating heat-health curricula into medical education, and enabling and establishing sustainable and predictable health financing, including climate financing.
Policy focus
Climate health needs to be integrated with national policies, with decentralised governance. Workers need to be equipped with skills to manage climate risks. There is a need to foster public-private partnerships and policy advocacy for climate-resilient health systems.
The physical environment must be adapted to mitigate heat exposure. There is a need to focus on heat-resilient health facilities, green building codes, and urban heat island mitigation strategies, besides support for community cooling interventions and nature-based solutions. Innovations like AI-driven predictive analytics and heatwave alert applications are needed. Electronic health records must be leveraged and clean cooling technologies promoted.
Having a framework that supports policy and financing is critical to build resilience. It must take a practical and scalable approach to protecting communities from the growing threat of extreme heat. This is a public health emergency demanding urgent action.
The time for complacency is over. Let’s demand meaningful change for sustainable solutions not only from our elected representatives but also the ecosystem at large, and hold each other accountable. The health of our planet and its people depends on it.
(The writer is Chief Catalyst at Swasti, an India-headquartered public health agency)
