The impact of climate change on injury susceptibility is complex and evolving. Climate change is no longer a distant threat, with extreme weather events, including heatwaves, droughts, bushfires, heavy rainfall, cyclones and floods becoming the new normal. In isolation these events can have significant impacts on the WA community, however, these events can also occur simultaneously, increasing the risk of injury and hospitalisations.
Heat-related illnesses and injuries
Extreme heat events are becoming more frequent and intense, increasing the risk of heat exhaustion, dehydration, and heatstroke. These conditions disproportionately affect vulnerable populations, including older adults, outdoor workers, and individuals with chronic conditions.
Extreme weather
Floods, bushfires, storms, and droughts lead to increased physical injuries such as fractures, burns, and drowning. Post-disaster recovery often exacerbate risks, with hazardous debris, unstable infrastructure, and unsafe housing conditions.
Transportation and built environment
Changes in weather patterns such as heavier rainfall, impact road safety, increasing accidents. Damaged infrastructure further endangers communities and access to emergency services.
Urban heat islands, lack of green spaces, poor housing conditions, and inadequate infrastructure in certain neighbourhoods increase vulnerability to climate-related injuries. Regional and remote areas may also face challenges, such as longer response times during emergencies and limited access to healthcare.
Mental Health
Environmental stressors, displacement, and post-disaster trauma contribute to violence, anxiety and depression, which may increase risky behaviours such as alcohol and substance use.
The Five-Step Public Health Approach to Injury Prevention
Exposure to extreme heat can result in a range of heat-related illnesses or death. The impact of climate change should be considered in injury prevention planning.
The Five-Step Public Health Approach to Injury Prevention can be used to provide a systematic framework for climate change and heat-related illness and injury.
1. Surveillance
Gather data to understand the scope and scale of heat-related illness and injury. Surveillance systems, community and stakeholder consultation and data analysis are key components of priority setting. Examples of key questions to collect data are:
- How many injuries result from heat-related illness and injury events annually?
- Which populations are most affected by weather-related disasters?
2. Determinants
Examine the environmental, social, and behavioral factors contributing to heat-related illness and injury. For instance:
- Risk factors: Exercising in extreme heat, inadequate housing, and lack of emergency preparedness, age and geographic location.
- Protective factors: Access to cooling centres, urban planning that reduces heat islands, education on how to prevent heat-related illness and injury and effective communication of warnings.
3. Interventions
Design evidence based strategies and targeted interventions to mitigate risks. First you need to:
- Define the target audience.
- Determine the purpose of the initiative.
- Determine what interventions could be developed to achieve your purpose.
Evidence-based strategies to prevent heat-related illness and injury include:
- Early warning systems: Disseminating heat alerts via community groups, local governments and public health agencies.
- Community cooling centres: Establishing accessible, air-conditioned spaces for vulnerable populations.
- Education campaigns: Promoting awareness about hydration, heat safety practices, and recognising heat-related symptoms.
- Urban planning: Increasing green spaces and tree canopy cover to reduce the urban heat island effect.
4. Implementation
Information collected in the planning stages surveillance, determinants and interventions are now brought together to implement an evidence-informed intervention at a population level. Collaborative efforts with local governments, community groups, and organisations can ensure widespread adoption.
5. Evaluation
Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions. Use metrics such as injury rates, hospital admissions, and community engagement levels to assess whether the intervention implemented in stage four made an impact on preventing injuries in the community.
Want more guidance?
The Injury Prevention 101 eLearning module will guide you through the Public Health Approach to Injury Prevention and support you to plan, implement and evaluate activities to prevent or reduce harm from injury in your community.