With heatwaves becoming more frequent and extreme — and claiming more lives — they are increasingly being recognized as one of the deadliest consequences of climate change.
A global heat summit hosted by the IFRC on Thursday 28 March (13:30 CET)seeks to raise the alarm about the growing urgency of heatwaves and the threat they pose to human health and well-being.
Organized in partnership with USAID, the summit aims to stimulate dialogue and investment around solutions that will save lives and mitigate costs through improved preparedness, early warning, coordination and rapid response, among other things.
USAID Administrator Samantha Power and IFRC Secretary General Jagan Chapagain will be joined by leaders from across the globe who are developing innovative solutions to lessen the impacts of extreme heat events. The summit is open to all who register for the online live stream.
Extreme heat is generally defined as prolonged periods with temperatures above 37 C. But recent heatwaves have far surpassed normal expectations. In Brazil, recently, temperatures in some cities topped 60 Celcius. In parts of North Africa and Southeast Asia, heatwaves routinely reach into the 50s.
“Parts of South America and Australia are just emerging from their two hottest summers ever,” notes IFRC Secretary General Jagan Chapagain. “Worldwide, 2023 was the hottest on record - by a huge margin. Half the world’s people – 3.8 billion in fact – simmered under extreme heat for at least one day last year.”
“And right now, there’s an unprecedented closure of schools across South Sudan. It’s due not to conflict or economic woes, but an extraordinary surge in temperatures to over 42°C (108°F).”
For the IFRC, the Summit will also be the occasion to launch a two-month campaign of action on extreme heat ahead of Heat Action Day on June 2nd. The campaign will include an online toolkit to help guide people spread knowledge and prepare for the northern hemisphere’s summer season, which for many has already begun.
More Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies are providing services like this one. To help people cope with extreme heat during the Covid-19 pandemic, volunteers of the Red Cross of Moldova set up tents that offer some shade and a free drink of water.
Photo: Red Cross of Moldova
Silent killers
Heatwaves are sometimes referred to as ‘silent’ or ‘invisible’ killers because the people who succumb often die in their homes and their deaths may not be initially ecognized as being caused by prolonged heat.
However, health authorities and climate scientists are seeing a clear correlation between high temperatures and higher death rates in many parts of the world. Heatwaves across Europe killed more than 60,000 people in 2022; in the United Kingdom, roads melted and almost 3000 died.
India sees at least 1,000 deaths a year attributable to extreme heat. In the United States, the number is similar. According to The Lancet, China is on track to see between 20,000 and 80,000 heatwave deaths a year. However, it is widely believed by researchers that these numbers vastly underestimate the real impact of extreme heat.
People who are impacted by crisis are particularly vulnerable to extreme heat. These Iraqi children were displaced by conflict. They gather around water taps in a camp for internally displaced people in order to cool down and fill up their water jugs.
Photo: Raefah Makki/IFRC
Who is most at risk?
Heatwaves can be particularly dangerous for vulnerable populations such as the elderly, young children, people with disabilities, and pregnant women. Individuals with pre-existing medical conditions such as obesity, heart disease, or respiratory conditions such as asthma are also at elevated risk for suffering health complications due to heatwaves.
Additionally, certain populations who spend time outdoors during the hottest parts — agricultural workers, day labourers, road workers and civil servants who work outdoors — are at particularly high risk.
People who face housing insecurity, such as people who are homeless and people who live in informal settlements and slums, or who lack access to medical care or places where they can cool down (parks, beaches, cooling stations, air-conditioned spaces, etc.) are also at an increased risk.
More and more organizations and cities offer services like this cooling centre, run by the Austrian Red Cross, where people can rest in an airconditioned room.
Photo: Markus Hechenberger/Austrian Red Cross
Urban Areas
Cities and densely populated areas face a unique challenge in respect to climate change and extreme heat because of their innate urban infrastructure. This phenomenon can be explained by the “urban heat island effect,” in which the construction materials typically used to build urban infrastructures absorb and retain heat more than natural material resources would.
This, in conjunction with highly concentrated human activity, informal settlements, dense substructures and populations, and minimal open green spaces, all perpetuate extreme heat.
What IFRC is doing
By 2025, the IFRC seeks to help 250 million people become better protected from heat in at least 150 cities and towns. IFRC seeks to do this by enabling climate-smart action to help global communities prepare, respond, and recover from climate disasters.
IFRC’s Global Climate Resilience Platform aims to enhance the resilience and build the adaptation skills of 500 million people in the most climate-vulnerable countries. The IFRC’s Early Warnings for All Initiative aims to provide early warning of extreme weather to everyone on earth by 2027 – this includes extreme heat. And the IFRC regularly raises the alarm through its network of 191 National Societies and via global advocacy and international events such as Heat Action Day on 2 June, 2024.