“Physically, with all the sweating, after some time, maybe afternoon, I feel as if I’m smelling. I have that smell. I wish I can just go and have a shower, but I can’t because I’m still at work.“Health Worker 1 For many health workers in South Africa, heat isn’t just a matter of discomfort. It’s […]
CategoriesBlog PostsDesigning early warning systems for heat and MNCH Centuries ago, early warning systems looked very different. A lookout would climb a tower and scan the horizon, eyes straining for signs of danger. Today, our warnings arrive as quiet pings on phones. But the idea remains the same: know what’s coming — and act before it’s […]
CategoriesBlog PostsBeating the heat starts with the building: rethinking health facilities for a warming world Walk into a maternity ward in rural Zimbabwe on a summer afternoon, and you’ll understand something instantly: buildings matter. Health facilities that provide maternity and neonatal care with no insulation, no cooling, and no escape from the sun can quickly become […]
CategoriesBlog PostsPublication: Caesarean sections and low birth weight in Kenya related to higher heat stress A new HIGH Horizons study published in the Journal of Climate and Health this month has found that higher heat stress leads to a raised likelihood of caesarean sections and babies born with low birth weight in Kenya. The study was […]
CategoriesBlog PostsThis World Meteorological Day, we are celebrating our work to close the early warning gap together with all six partners in the Climate-Health Cluster, who collaborate to increase the societal and policy impact of EU and UK-funded research linked to climate, health and policy. Early warning systems help people anticipate and prepare for various natural […]
CategoriesBlog PostsDebra Jackson, HIGH Horizons Deputy Scientific Coordinator and Takeda Chair in Global Child Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, recently spoke with Takeda about our research in Europe and Africa. You can read the interview in depth here.
HIGH Horizons researchers have published open access human thermal stress indices datasets for Greece that can be used by researchers or authorities aiming to investigate the relationship between heat and health in the country. The study, “Daily time series of 12 human thermal stress indices in Greece, aggregated at commune level (1998-2022),” has been published […]
CategoriesBlog PostsWalk up to a health facility in Tshwane, South Africa on a hot summer morning, and you are likely to find long, snaky queues of people, including pregnant women, waiting outside—in the full sun. “It’s scorching, but they don’t have shady places,” said Pamela Tshandu, a Stakeholder Engagement Officer at Wits RHI, University of Witwatersrand, […]
CategoriesBlog PostsHIGH Horizons researchers are proud to have taken part in Climate and Health Africa Conference 2024 (CHAC), the first conference in history to focus solely on the intersection of climate change and health in Africa. The conference, held from 29-31 October, in Harare, Zimbabwe, was hosted by Centre for Sexual Health and HIV AIDS Research […]
CategoriesBlog PostsResearch, led by members of the HIGH Horizons consortium, showed that the influence of extreme heat on the risk of death in children under five varies by age group, region and season. The study, published in The Lancet Planetary Health, examined the effects of heat on child death rates across various regions in Africa, focusing […]
