Baby it's hot outside: Balancing health risks and energy efficiency when parenting during extreme heat events

Abstract

In an increasingly heating global climate, parents find themselves charged with managing the health risks of young children during more frequent and extreme heat events. We outline heat health risks posed to children, contrast our experiences and highlight health promotion policy tools and advice available to parents caring for children during extreme heat events in three cities in the United States of America, Germany, and New Zealand. We argue that balancing health and energy needs requires a variety of policy approaches and communication of these to parents to ensure child health protection during extreme heat events.