Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijdrr Review Article Emerging heat-related climate change influences; a public health challenge to health care practitioners and policy makers: Insight from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe Bigboy Ngwenya ⁎ , Jacques Oosthuizen, Martyn Cross, Kwasi Frimpong Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Climate change Heat-related illnesses Health care practitioners Global warming ABSTRACT Current climate trends of extreme temperature and humidity during summer present a public health dilemma in Zimbabwe and other developing countries. National and local governments have defined roles to protect the health of populations under their jurisdictions as stipulated in relevant policies. The involvement of public health practitioners in policy development and management of heat-related illnesses is vital for the protection of the public, particularly vulnerable groups. The current role of health providers in developing countries regarding climate change impacts on health is considered suboptimal. Focus group interviews with public health practi- tioners and policy makers in the city of Bulawayo in Zimbabwe showed that officials lacked knowledge and awareness regarding heat-related impacts on health, particularly in relation to differences in individual sus- ceptibility and currently employed heat adaptation and coping mechanisms. 1. Introduction The frequency of hot day temperatures in Zimbabwe is increasing and previous study have shown that from 1955 to 2003 the frequency of hot days increased by 1.86% per decade compared to the global average of 0.89% [1]. Worldwide average surface temperatures as as- sessed by the International Panel on Climate Change are projected to increase by between 1.8 and 4.0 °C by 2100 [6]. The latest assessment of average global temperatures by the International Panel on Climate Change [7] concluded that more extreme high temperatures will impact land areas more often. These predicted changes will impact on humans in numerous ways, particularly those who are poor, elderly or suffering from ill health. Climate change is likely to have a significant impact on people in developing countries located in the tropics, which presents a challenge to governments who are striving to preserve the highest standard of health attainable for their populations, as required by the United Nations Human Rights Council [16]. It has been predicted that estimated global temperatures will in- crease by 2–4 °C over the next decades [1]. The World Health Assembly identified four climate change priorities for countries, which include: (1) assessing the scale and nature of health vulnerability, (2) develop- ment and implementation of health protection and promotion strate- gies, (3) decision making support, enhanced surveillance and mon- itoring capacity and (4) assessments of financial and other resources aimed at health protection [17]. Current studies concur that heat-re- lated illnesses will emerge as major health issues in the future, parti- cularly in developing countries such as Zimbabwe. Literature shows that heat waves occur more frequently than any other natural hazard of late, yet they are not generally recognised as significant hazards and causes of mortality, particularly in developing countries [9]. There is a lack of research on heat stress and heat-related illness in developing countries generally and in Zimbabwe specifically. The current trend of heat waves during summer exposes the population to heat-related health risks and the population acknowledges the situation has changed over the last 5 years. Climate change research in Zimbabwe has focused on health issues such as malaria and water borne diseases; however, no studies to date have investigated the issues of emerging heat stress on humans. Heat is a naturally occurring hazard associated with climate change and it needs to be captured in policy development as a health issue. Heat waves are responsible for a significant proportion of human mortality [18]. In Zimbabwe, there is a lack of evidence to assess the impact of heat on mortality or morbidity as the link between environ- mental heat and health records has not been established. Globally, it has been shown that many people are frequently ex- posed to stressful heat environmental conditions that exceed the ca- pacity of normal human physiological coping mechanisms, thus placing such individuals at risk of suffering heat stress-related illnesses or could http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2017.10.012 Received 2 July 2017; Received in revised form 9 October 2017; Accepted 10 October 2017 ⁎ Correspondence to: 107 Yindana Boulevard, Lakelands, WA 6180, Australia. E-mail address: b.ngwenya@ecu.edu.au (B. Ngwenya). International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx 2212-4209/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Please cite this article as: Ngwenya, B., International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2017.10.012