A pilot heat-health warning system co-designed for a subtropical city.
Significant heat-related casualties underlie the urgency of establishing a heat-health warning system (HHWS). This paper presents an evidence-based pilot HHWS developed for Taipei City, Taiwan, through a co-design process engaging stakeholders. In the co-design process, policy concerns related to bi...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2023-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294281 |
| _version_ | 1797394565346361344 |
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| author | Shih-Chun Candice Lung Ming-Lone Liou Jou-Chen Joy Yeh Jing-Shiang Hwang |
| author_facet | Shih-Chun Candice Lung Ming-Lone Liou Jou-Chen Joy Yeh Jing-Shiang Hwang |
| author_sort | Shih-Chun Candice Lung |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Significant heat-related casualties underlie the urgency of establishing a heat-health warning system (HHWS). This paper presents an evidence-based pilot HHWS developed for Taipei City, Taiwan, through a co-design process engaging stakeholders. In the co-design process, policy concerns related to biometeorology, epidemiology and public health, and risk communication aspects were identified, with knowledge gaps being filled by subsequent findings. The biometeorological results revealed that Taipei residents were exposed to wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) levels of health concern for at least 100 days in 2016. The hot spots and periods identified using WBGT would be missed out if using temperature, underlining the importance of adopting an appropriate heat indicator. Significant increases in heat-related emergency were found in Taipei at WBGT exceeding 36°C with reference-adjusted risk ratio (RaRR) of 2.42, taking 30°C as the reference; and residents aged 0-14 had the highest risk enhancement (RaRR = 7.70). As for risk communication, occurring frequency was evaluated to avoid too frequent warnings, which would numb the public and exhaust resources. After integrating knowledge and reconciling the different preferences and perspectives, the pilot HHWS was co-implemented in 2018 by the science team and Taipei City officials; accompanying responsive measures were formulated for execution by ten city government departments/offices. The results of this pilot served as a useful reference for establishing a nationwide heat-alert app in 2021/2022. The lessons learnt during the interactive co-design processes provide valuable insights for establishing HHWSs worldwide. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T00:21:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b5c2f2e7a16644a787ccda231dd58db3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T00:21:37Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-b5c2f2e7a16644a787ccda231dd58db32023-12-12T05:34:37ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032023-01-011811e029428110.1371/journal.pone.0294281A pilot heat-health warning system co-designed for a subtropical city.Shih-Chun Candice LungMing-Lone LiouJou-Chen Joy YehJing-Shiang HwangSignificant heat-related casualties underlie the urgency of establishing a heat-health warning system (HHWS). This paper presents an evidence-based pilot HHWS developed for Taipei City, Taiwan, through a co-design process engaging stakeholders. In the co-design process, policy concerns related to biometeorology, epidemiology and public health, and risk communication aspects were identified, with knowledge gaps being filled by subsequent findings. The biometeorological results revealed that Taipei residents were exposed to wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) levels of health concern for at least 100 days in 2016. The hot spots and periods identified using WBGT would be missed out if using temperature, underlining the importance of adopting an appropriate heat indicator. Significant increases in heat-related emergency were found in Taipei at WBGT exceeding 36°C with reference-adjusted risk ratio (RaRR) of 2.42, taking 30°C as the reference; and residents aged 0-14 had the highest risk enhancement (RaRR = 7.70). As for risk communication, occurring frequency was evaluated to avoid too frequent warnings, which would numb the public and exhaust resources. After integrating knowledge and reconciling the different preferences and perspectives, the pilot HHWS was co-implemented in 2018 by the science team and Taipei City officials; accompanying responsive measures were formulated for execution by ten city government departments/offices. The results of this pilot served as a useful reference for establishing a nationwide heat-alert app in 2021/2022. The lessons learnt during the interactive co-design processes provide valuable insights for establishing HHWSs worldwide.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294281 |
| spellingShingle | Shih-Chun Candice Lung Ming-Lone Liou Jou-Chen Joy Yeh Jing-Shiang Hwang A pilot heat-health warning system co-designed for a subtropical city. PLoS ONE |
| title | A pilot heat-health warning system co-designed for a subtropical city. |
| title_full | A pilot heat-health warning system co-designed for a subtropical city. |
| title_fullStr | A pilot heat-health warning system co-designed for a subtropical city. |
| title_full_unstemmed | A pilot heat-health warning system co-designed for a subtropical city. |
| title_short | A pilot heat-health warning system co-designed for a subtropical city. |
| title_sort | pilot heat health warning system co designed for a subtropical city |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294281 |
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