Heat Exposure & Adaptation Tools – Protecting vulnerable groups
- India
- In Progress / Completed
- October 2023 – October 2027
- Multi-Sectoral Interventions / Empowering people & Communities / RCS / Community Engagement Initiatives
![Heat Exposure & Adaptation Tools – Protecting vulnerable g](https://ghrcentre-ncdec.nihr.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/matt-palmer-kbTp7dBzHyY-unsplash.webp)
Heatwaves affect human health (Hess et al. 2018; Venugopal et al. 2021), and India is especially vulnerable to them due to its high population density, inadequate healthcare access, and climate change vulnerability. The 2022 Indian heatwaves were 30 times more likely due to climate change (World Weather Attribution 2022). Heat action plans and early warning systems are needed, especially in low- and middle-income nations where climate change is expected to increase morbidity and death (Green et al., 2019). Heat action plans are being implemented in India with the national government and stakeholders (Government of India, 2023). These HAP measures can reduce community and vulnerable working population mortality (Krisher et al., 2020, Bodin, 2016; Malima, 2020; Nutkiewicz, 2022; Hasan, 2021).
We want to co-produce, co-implement, and assess multi-sectoral, co-designed PHC-embedded adaptation interventions to prevent and manage heat stress and related illnesses in high-risk communities and workplaces in Andhra Pradesh.
Our transdisciplinary research follows the 2021 Medical Research Council (MRC) guidance for creating and evaluating complex interventions (Skivington et al., 2021) and comprises the following steps: Data synthesis and communication, intervention implementation and mixed-methods evaluation, and formative research.
Formative research: This phase will examine community-level Heat Action Plans (HAP) intervention technologies, expand SMARThealth (Systematic Medical Appraisal, Referral, and Treatment) to collect HEAT-PROTECT data in India, and quantify the impact of heat exposure on NCD incidence, morbidity, and mortality in vulnerable rural populations.
Intervention implementation and mixed-methods evaluation: Interventions will be co-designed, baseline data collected, feasible, effective, adoptable, and acceptable interventions identified using UK MRC guidelines, and decision- makers consulted before piloting them using a “Plan-Do-Study-Act” (PDSA)
process.
Communication and data synthesis: The synthesis of data involves analysis. The population prevalence component of the study will use descriptive statistics, reporting categorical variables as proportions and continuous variables as means and standard deviations. Participatory methods and experiential knowledge sharing are planned.
The present study is expected to provid the following benefits.