Work in heat and health - a toolbox for occupational studies in manual workers in LMIC countries

One of the pressing challenges facing the world is the impact of increasing global temperatures and water shortage on human health and productivity, driven by both climate change and population expansion.

Heat stress is an occupational hazard that negatively affects productivity while also increasing accident rates and the risk of acute heat illnesses.

Also, there is accumulating evidence that repeated heat stress may lead to chronic kidney disease, which poses high socioeconomic costs to individuals, families, and health systems.Manual outdoor workers in LMIC hot climates are at high risk for heat stress.

Quantification of external heat and physical workload which generates metabolic heat is a prerequisite for better understanding of relations between heat stress and health.

In this network occupational health researchers in southern Africa will interact with researchers with experience from occupational heat stress studies with a focus on kidney disease in Mesoamerican sugarcane workers.

Theoretical and practical training in methods for heat stress assessment in occupational studies will be provided through a series of workshops.A proposal for a study in the sugarcane industry in southern Africa is a planned end-of-project activity, together with knowledge dissemination to a wider audience.

Better understanding of the burden heat stress places on production and health systems in LMIC countries is important to ensure that adequate resources for mitigation are dedicated.