Effective Community-Based Interventions for the Prevention and Management of Heat-Related Illnesses: A Scoping Review

Extreme temperatures have negative consequences on the environment, ecosystem, and human health. With recent increases in global temperatures, there has been a rise in the burden of heat-related illnesses, with a disproportionate impact on low- and middle-income countries. Effective population-level interventions are critical to a successful public health response.

This scoping review aims to summarise the evidence on the effectiveness of population-level heat-related interventions and serve as a potential guide to the implementation of these interventions.

It concludes that heat action plans covered have shown promising results in reducing heat-related mortality and morbidity and have included instituting early warning systems, building local capacity to identify, prevent or treat and manage heat-related illnesses, and disseminating information. Nevertheless, they need to be cost-effective, easy to maintain, ideally should not rely on a mass effort from people and should be specifically structured to meet the local needs and resources of the community.