Table 1.
Research Need | Description |
---|---|
Documenting adaptation trends |
Assessing trends in heat-health response over time, based on local data, can provide valuable insight into heat adaptation trends |
Evaluating the effectiveness of planned interventions |
Consistent methods are needed for evaluating the effectiveness of heat-health interventions |
Syndromic surveillance | Real-time surveillance of heat-related health syndromes can provide data of use in resource mobilization during heat events |
Targeting interventions to those most vulnerable |
Heat vulnerability maps need to be developed that take into account local, fine-scaled health outcome data |
Projecting future health impacts |
Exposure response functions and adaptation assumptions are needed for assessing impacts of future climate scenarios |
Health relevance of spatial patterns of exposure |
Recent evidence suggests that outdoor temperatures can vary substantially within urban areas depending on local land use. Understanding implications for health will be important. |
Assessment of personal exposures |
Virtually no data are yet available assessing actual exposures of vulnerable populations during heat events. |
Quantifying the impacts of power failures |
Epidemiology is needed for quantifying the health impacts of heat events that coincide with power failures |