Adaptation to the Health Effects of Heat Waves in Sensitive Groups

Abstract

Selected by the World Health Organization last year as a major policy concern, climate change is so urgent an issue that it was replaced after a year by the term ‘climate crisis.’ The health effects of climate change vary from group to group, so the government should pay attention to the adaptation of sensitive groups. Conducted to develop health adaptation to heat waves in sensitive groups, this study can be summarized as follows. First, we examined how to support sensitive groups in the health effects of heat waves in Korea and in some other countries. Second, we developed health monitoring indicators for the sensitive groups of heat waves, and conducted surveys and interviews to collect data that could measure them. Third, we identified the health effects of heat waves reported by sensitive groups, and analyzed the health risks and protection factors. We confirmed through this study that sensitive groups, compared to non-sensitive groups, lack understanding of the health effects of heat waves and do not have sufficient capacity to adapt to heat waves. Under these circumstances, the more exposed the sensitive groups are to heat, the higher the risk of worsening their underlying conditions, but it has been shown that current individual and national adaptation policies do not help mitigate that risk. Based on the health effects of heat waves in sensitive groups and how they are recognizing and adapting to the problem, the government needs to establish and implement policies to support them.