Assessing the health effects of extreme temperature and development of adaptation strategies to climate change in selected countries in the Asia-Pacific region

While studies show that climate change is exacerbating health effects due to extreme hot weather, scientific evidence in the Asia-Pacific region remains scarce. In this study, we aim to assess the health effects of extreme temperature, identify individual and community factors contributing to population vulnerability, and develop adaptation strategies for temperature-related health risks. Various methods were adopted for different research purposes in the study. Distributed lag non-linear model and conditional Poisson model were used to assess temperature-health associations. Subgroup analysis, hierarchical Bayesian model and logistic regression model were used for identifying vulnerable subgroups. Results showed that extreme temperature is associated with a range of human morbidity or mortality outcomes in the selected Asia-Pacific localities. The interaction of extreme temperature and air pollution also increased health risks. It is projected that heat-related health effects will increase dramatically under climate change scenarios with urban expansion and ageing population in the near future. Vulnerable subgroups in the study were identified as the elderly, people with pre-existing diseases, outdoor workers, residents living in high population density areas, and those with low socio-economic status. In addition, a few cities developed adaptation strategies to manage the health risks as a result of extreme temperatures, such as heat-health action plans and early warning systems. Future efforts should be taken to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of adaptation strategies for alleviating public health impacts of climate change in the Asia-Pacific region. Adaptation, Climate change, Health effect, Morbidity, Mortality, Temperature, Vulnerability