Misdiagnosing vulnerability to heatwaves in the media
Authors: Ana Raquel Nunes
Journal: The Lancet Planetary Health (2019)

Yet again we are faced with news about temperature records being broken. As regions, countries, cities, and individuals experience more frequent, intense, and extended heatwaves,1Watts N Adger WN Agnolucci P et al.Health and climate change: policy responses to protect public health.Lancet. 2015; 386: 1861-1914Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (1018) Google Scholar people often turn to the media for advice on coping with what is already a substantial public health problem. For example, media coverage by television, radio, and newspapers has long been dominated by the medical model of health2Community Development and Health NetworkModels of Health. Community Development and Health Network.https://www.cdhn.org/sites/default/files/downloads/FACTSHEETS%201_Screen%20View%281%29.pdfDate accessed: July 4, 2019Google Scholar and its general advice on heat avoidance. This advice typically includes restricting physical activity, wearing loose and light-coloured clothing, drinking more water, cooling the body, and protecting against sunburn.3Hajat S O'Connor M Kosatsky T Health effects of hot weather: from awareness of risk factors to effective health protection.Lancet. 2010; 375: 856-863Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (286) Google Scholar This model of advice has been sustained during the recent and unprecedented heatwave across mainland Europe this summer. But this common sense and passive mode of communication is problematic because it places undue emphasis on individual physiological characteristics, such as genetics and health status, and individual behaviours, such as physical activity and drinking. It is not targeted at high-risk or the most vulnerable people—such as older people, the chronically ill, children, those who are socially isolated, and outdoor workers. Media institutions should instead adopt a broader, social model of health,2Community Development and Health NetworkModels of Health. Community Development and Health Network.https://www.cdhn.org/sites/default/files/downloads/FACTSHEETS%201_Screen%20View%281%29.pdfDate accessed: July 4, 2019Google Scholar which accounts for the wider determinants of health, including social, economic, and environmental factors (eg, income, housing quality, social networks, and healthy workplaces). Wider support actions should also be considered—eg, going to cool public places, such as libraries and community centres; promoting checks on vulnerable individuals; and providing information via heat-health telephone helplines. The power of the media in communicating risk and facilitating action should not be underestimated. Shifting the focus away from the medical model of health and towards a social model would more effectively recast the problem as one that is fundamentally about public health and not individual behaviours. I declare no competing interests. Record breakersThe last 22 years contain 20 of the warmest (global average) years on record. This trend is powerfully demonstrated by the popular #Showyourstripes initiative. That most of the warmest years have occurred very recently is hardly surprising given that our planet is being heated by increasing amounts of heat trapping CO2 in the atmosphere—primarily emitted from burning fossil fuels. In this context 2019, which has seen a number of record-breaking heatwaves, is displaying exactly the sorts of conditions that we should expect to see more and more often. Full-Text PDF Open Access