Scientists have been warning for years that Spain is one of the countries most affected by rising temperatures. But despite this and once again, plans to prevent the consequences of the heat are delayed. Yesterday, the Public Health Commission of the Ministry of Health approved advancing the prevention plan to May 15, while Catalonia already activated it yesterday, a month and a half earlier than usual.
Public health experts consulted by La Vanguardia believe that, given the evidence, it is necessary to take measures now to reduce the negative effects on the health of the most vulnerable, but also to adopt the appropriate decisions so that children can be at school and professionals can exercise your job without danger.
Along these lines, the director of the Center for Coordination of Alerts and Emergencies, Fernando Simón, advocates incorporating the risks of climate change into the work culture. "It's not only a question of taking measures but of incorporating them into our way of thinking and acting", he indicates, while advocating for "modifying work habits because the heat at noon will cause deaths, it is already doing so".
Juliol Díaz, researcher at the Carlos III Institute of Health, asks to "draw up prevention plans for heat waves that are based on the actual incidence of temperatures, and not on the calendar. And the administrations must take seriously that this problem will be there every year".
Díaz calls for real planning to address this matter beyond improvisations based on emergencies such as the need to protect children in schools (who "live in prisons, in yards without trees...") or other .
In this sense, remember that deaths due to heat waves are due to exacerbation of other pathologies, due to neurological, cardiovascular or respiratory problems. "The danger temperatures of heat waves are calculated for the population that dies, that is, the elderly, not the children. Before acting, we should know at what temperature the heat affects the children", he says.
"Those who suffer the most from heat waves are the elderly, they are the ones who die. Only 2% of deaths due to heat waves are due to heat stroke", he points out.
This specialist considers that at the municipal level the first priority is to draw up prevention plans designed specifically for each city to know under what conditions certain types of diseases occur, but bearing in mind that "Madrid is not the same as Barcelona, or Barcelona than Sória”, he points out.
It is also key to determine when they should be applied, for which "very clear action protocols in health matters" are needed.
Sanitat has updated the temperature thresholds to adapt them to the risk levels (it was working with data from 2009) and has launched a Temperature and Risk Levels Subscription Service via SMS or e-mail for citizens that they so require on a given province.
