The World Health Organization (WHO) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) jointly released a document entitled ‘Heatwaves and health: guidance on warning-system development’ on 1 July 2015.

Background Information:

Heat or hot weather lasting several days is often termed a ‘heatwave’.

There is no universally accepted definition of a heatwave, but it has the following attributes:

• they are periods of unusually hot & dry/ hot & humid weather
• they have subtle onset and cessation
• they last at least 2-3 days; and
• they have a discernible impact on human activities

Contents of the Document:

1. Executive Summary
2. Introduction
3. Heat and Health
4. Assessment of Heat Stress
5. Heat-Health Warning Systems-Definition and Methodology
6. Communicating Heat–Health Warnings and Heat-Related Information to Stakeholders and the Public
7. Intervention Strategies
8. Evaluation of Health Warnings and Health-Protection Measures
9. Planning for Heat Events at the Intra-Seasonal to Seasonal Scale
10. Longer-Term Initiatives for Managing Heatwaves and Health

Useful Links:

Link to the Document:

http://who.int/globalchange/publications/WMO_WHO_Heat_Health_Guidance_2015.pdf?ua=1

Link to the related Web Page:

http://who.int/globalchange/publications/heatwaves-health-guidance/en/