California Health Report: We Can’t Protect Californians from Heat If We Aren’t Counting Who’s Most Affected
In this opinion editorial in California Health Report, PHI’s Dr. Shubhayu Saha makes the case for how better data can help prevent heat-related illness and hospitalizations.
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Climate Change -
Expertise
Research – Surveillance -
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Tracking California
Extreme heat is well-documented as one of the most harmful climate-driven hazards to health. Heat-related illness, hospitalizations and emergency room visits have risen roughly 30 percent in just the past two decades. However, the total health burden is still unclear, with many of those most at-risk not accounted for in current data.
Recent research from Tracking California, a program of the Public Health Institute, found unhoused individuals are 38% more likely to visit the emergency room because of extreme heat. In an op-ed for California Health Report, Tracking California’s Executive Director Shubhayu Saha, Ph.D., shares how their work—in partnership with under-resourced, highly impacted rural and Tribal communities—is uncovering the true toll of extreme heat.
Granular data matters because the health risks of heat are local. It is shaped by where people live, work and learn. . . . For heat resilience programs to protect public health, they must be informed by local data that capture the specific vulnerabilities and lived experiences of the communities they serve.Shubhayu Saha, Ph.D.
Executive Director, PHI’s Tracking California
Opinion: We Can’t Protect Californians from Heat If We Aren’t Counting Who’s Most Affected, California Health Report
Dr. Saha makes the case that collaboration with communities with sustained investment in health data can help prevent heat-related illness.
Read the piece
Explore More: PHI's Dr. Shubhuya Saha Shares New Data on Extreme Heat with LAist
New research from Tracking California found unhoused individuals are 38% more likely to visit the emergency room because of extreme heat. The finding is possible because of a 2019 California state law requiring hospitals to track housing status for emergency room visits, turning long held assumptions into evidence that can direct cooling centers, outreach and emergency response to where they’re needed most. “We always knew that unhoused individuals were at much higher risk on extreme heat days, and now there is that empirical evidence,” said Shubhayu Saha, Ph.D., Executive Director of PHI's Tracking California, speaking to LAist.
Originally published by California Health Report
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