Research Project

Harvard University D/B/A Harvard School Of Public Health, Boston MA

Investigators

Abstract

Project: There is an urgent need to develop HEW solutions for heat stress, addressing both direct effects on health (e.g., death, heat stress) and indirect impacts on food and water supplies. To meet this need, the Center for Effective and Accessible Research-based Testing for Health (C-EARTH) will use a community-centered approach to combat heat stress, recognizing that locally tailored, HEW solutions are essential. Our research project will assess the impact of heat stress on populations in three distinct settings at established partner locations. Each site addresses the escalating heat-related health impacts on a different scale: Boston focuses on individuals, Madagascar focuses on small communities in rural, remote zones, and South Africa focuses on households in urban built environments. At each project site, we will analyze associations between heat exposure and heat stress and other heat-related health outcomes, utilizing a standardized questionnaire across all sites. Then, we will implement and test cooling solutions that promote resilience to heat stress through intervention studies and cohort-controlled research. For the intervention studies, we will address the following aims: 1) determine whether educational resources and a cooling solution in 100 subjects improves health and thermal condition outcomes for high-risk older adults with chronic disease and material hardships in Boston; 2) evaluate the feasibility, use, and health impact of cooling centers with HEPA filters and freezers for fish storage in four communities in Madagascar; and 3) determine whether a passive housing cooling solution improves indoor temperatures and health outcomes in a subset of 32 households in South Africa. Together with our core teams, we will implement these solutions to evaluate their effectiveness and develop methods to translate our findings towards policy. If successful, we will be able to scale this approach from individuals to national levels.