Urban Heat and Disease Control

Living in urban spaces has advantages of walkability, access to public transportation, and access to healthcare. The consequences of higher population density during an epidemic, though, could have detrimental impacts on infection rates of all residents and death rates of specifically residents of urban slums. This post will focus on the specifically acknowledging and methods of mitigating urban heat and its impacts on urban neighborhoods to prevent disease spread in the future. 

To give a brief overview, heatwaves, droughts, and wildfires causes heat-related disease spread or simply heat strokes. The heatwave in Japan resulted in "over 20,000 hospital admissions" in just 2018 alone. Diseases are also much more likely to be spread in warmer, tropical climates such as Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, urban areas tend to form so called "urban heat islands", which is a bell curve representing the average temperature with its peak in urban centers and decreases as distance increases from urban centers. Global warming and climate change will only further destabilize these trends, pushing temperatures up beyond the current threshold.

Having adequate ventilation and air condition especially for cities in tropical regions is critical to preventative measures in disease control. There are several measures to consider while taking urban locations and economic status into consideration. First, consider distinctive measures to reduce urban waste heat and greenhouse gas emissions in each city. For instance, implementing public transportation not only increases access to healthcare but also reduces heat emissions. Second, consider scientific urban planning involving the layout and spacing of high heat waste infrastructure as well as regulations in ventilation and air conditioning. Third, adopt heat-resistant construction material to efficiently reduce heat infiltrating buildings to conserve energy. Finally, increase vegetation areas to lower temperatures in urban areas. Thus, it's crucial to come up with universal measures that also seek to accommodate cities in distinct regions around the world.

The article Urban heat: and increasing threat to global health can be found here. I look forward to seeing everyone this weekend!

Best,

Amy

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