Is Excess Heat Factor a Good Indicator for Assessing Heatwave Related Health Outcomes in Western Australia?.

Abstract

Global climate change poses threats to human health. Heatwaves have killed more people in Australia than any other natural hazard.  In Western Australia (WA), the Department of Health (DoH) has an emergency management obligation to monitor and manage the impact of heatwaves on populations at higher risk of suffering adverse effects from heat exposure. Currently there are no standardised indicators to assess the impact of heatwaves on health. An innovative indicator called Excess Heat Factor (EHF, an index providing a comparative measure of intensity, load, duration and spatial distribution of a heatwave event) is introduced to quantify excess heat exposure and its association with health outcomes in WA from 2006 to 2013