Joshua Jonah Kunda
The effects of extreme heat on human health in tropical Africa
Kunda, Joshua Jonah; Gosling, Simon N; Foody, Giles M
Authors
Dr SIMON GOSLING SIMON.GOSLING@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
Professor of Climate Risks and Environmental Modelling
GILES FOODY giles.foody@nottingham.ac.uk
Professor of Geographical Information
Abstract
This review examines high-quality research evidence that synthesises the effects of extreme heat on human health in tropical Africa. Web of Science (WoS) was used to identify research articles on the effects extreme heat, humidity, Wet-bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT), apparent temperature, wind, Heat Index, Humidex, Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI), heatwave, high temperature and hot climate on human health, human comfort, heat stress, heat rashes, and heat-related morbidity and mortality. A total of 5, 735 articles were initially identified, which were reduced to 100 based on a set of inclusion and exclusion criteria. The review discovered that temperatures up to 60°C have been recorded in the region and that extreme heat has many adverse effects on human health, such as worsening mental health in low-income adults, increasing the likelihood of miscarriage, and adverse effects on well-being and safety, psychological behaviour, efficiency, and social comfort of outdoor workers who spend long hours performing manual labour. Extreme heat raises the risk of death from heat-related disease, necessitating preventative measures such as adaptation methods to mitigate the adverse effects on vulnerable populations during hot weather. This study highlights the social inequalities in heat exposure and adverse health outcomes.
Journal Article Type | Review |
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Acceptance Date | Mar 4, 2024 |
Online Publication Date | Mar 25, 2024 |
Publication Date | 2024-06 |
Deposit Date | Mar 7, 2024 |
Publicly Available Date | Mar 26, 2025 |
Journal | International Journal of Biometeorology |
Print ISSN | 0020-7128 |
Electronic ISSN | 1432-1254 |
Publisher | Springer Verlag |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 68 |
Pages | 1015-1033 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-024-02650-4 |
Keywords | Climate change. Extreme heat. Human health. Tropical Africa |
Public URL | https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/32172567 |
Publisher URL | https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00484-024-02650-4 |
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Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2024
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
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