Background

High levels of ambient heat, often together with high humidity, are a significant threat to human health. An increasing number of extreme high heat index events (the combination of high heat and high humidity) may increase human morbidity and mortality and other negative outcomes.

For the humanitarian shelter and settlements sector, high heat index events pose four challenges:

1. The rapid onset of heat events can make a timely response difficult,

2. Current approaches to shelter and settlement designs do not fully account for heat index events,

3. There are limited mechanical means available to humanitarian operations to manage heat and humidity at the shelter level, and

4. There is a gap in humanitarian planning for high heat index events.

Objectives

The session is intended to:

1. Explore the challenges posed by high heat index events conceptually and from a humanitarian perspective, and

2. Define a set of next steps to improve how shelter and settlements-focused assistance can reduce the impact of high heat index events.

Note that the session is based on a shelter and settlements approach. Attention to shelter focuses on shelter design and operation and non-food items provided for use in and near a shelter, including those which may play a role in reducing heat stress.

Attention to settlement focuses on the broader context in which shelter exists, including the structure in which people live and how they use the structure to interact with the social and environmental aspects of where shelter is located. In terms of heat, this includes climate and weather, potential urban heat island conditions, spaces for cooling individuals and the environment, including the supply of water and energy and other rvices useful in reducing the risk from high heat index events.

The session will be organized around two segments. The first segment will provide perspectives of Shelter, CCCM, Health, and WASH Clusters on heat hazard events. The second segment will focus on how specific clusters and the overall humanitarian response can address the challenge of high heat and high heat index events.