ABSTRACT
People exposed to heat undergo thermal strain that may affect their health, comfort and performance. It may even lead to death. When the weather becomes very hot, and in particular when it is unusually hot, the death rate often greatly increases among vulnerable people. These include some elderly people, people who are ill or have disabilities, people who exhibit inappropriate behaviour and people who cannot take action to reduce the heat stress to which they have been exposed. The thermal strain imposed by heat stress, such as increased heart rate, increased body temperature and respiratory problems, is often beyond the capacity of the vulnerable person. While military and occupational contexts have been extensively studied, the social and public health consequences have not and although much is known about how people respond to heat and how they can be protected from it, systems for applying that knowledge to protect vulnerable people have some way to go. In the summer of 2003, in Paris, over 14,000 deaths occurred in a few weeks, which were caused by a heat wave. This forced the relevant government minister to resign. In 2010 in Russia, over 20,000 extra deaths caused by a heat wave and pollution due to forest fires were estimated. There are many more such examples worldwide.
