Planetary health in action: developing a heatwave vulnerability tool for primary care.
Karolina Griffiths1,2,3, Paul Basso-Bert2, Mireille Abraham2
1University of Montpellier, UMR UA11 INSERM - UM IDESP Institut Desbrest d'Épidémiologie et de Santé Publique Campus Santé, IURC, Montpellier, France karolina.griffiths@umontpellier.fr.
BJGP Open
|October 11, 2024
Summary
Primary care practitioners can now use a new online tool to assess community heatwave vulnerability. This tool integrates environmental data, bridging the gap between research and practice for better public health outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Health
- Public Health
- Primary Care Research
Background:
- Increasing frequency and duration of heatwaves necessitate accessible environmental data.
- Existing open environmental data is not optimized for primary care use.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a user-friendly online mapping tool for primary care practitioners to assess community heatwave vulnerability.
- To determine essential knowledge, participants, and sharing methods for heatwave vulnerability assessment.
Main Methods:
- A participatory action-research project utilizing knowledge mobilization (KM) in France.
- Collaborative consensus-building on data variables and content for the online tool.
- Inclusion of primary care stakeholders, Regional Health Agencies (ARS), Public Health France (SPF), and data scientists.
Main Results:
- Nineteen participants engaged in co-construction and co-creation meetings.
- Heatwave vulnerability was quantified using surface temperature, social deprivation, vegetation, and air conditioning data.
- Experts mobilized national data on heatwave morbidity at the communal level.
Conclusions:
- A novel approach for integrating environmental heatwave data into primary care consultations was developed.
- Knowledge mobilization in primary care is crucial for bridging the research-practice gap.
- Integrating primary care and environmental data offers potential for planetary health research.
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