The role of sensors for building individual climate resilience and mitigating the impact on health services from extreme weather events such as heatwaves: A perspective review
2026
Jessica Rahman | Lucinda Jones | Alana Delaforce | David Silvera-Tawil | Hwan-Jin Yoon | Justin Boyle | Marlien Varnfield | Brett Sutton | Rajiv Jayasena
Climate change poses significant risks to human health, with increasing temperatures and extreme weather events linked to rising rates of heat-related illnesses, respiratory diseases, injuries, and even rising mortality. This review explores the potential of digital technologies leveraging diverse sensing devices, including individual wearable sensors and ambient sensors to monitor and mitigate heat exposure's adverse effects on individual health, health services and healthcare systems. While this approach is particularly relevant to health system responses, it also highlights the broader planning, prevention, and early intervention efforts that extend beyond the health sector, such as social services, education, housing, transport, community-based initiatives and environmental policies. As climate-related health challenges escalate, integrating sensing technologies into healthcare strategies could improve response timing and capacity, reduce healthcare costs, and ultimately safeguard public health. This perspective piece calls for further research to identify effective applications of sensing technologies in mitigating heat impacts, aiming to inform policy and enhance the resilience of health systems and related services in a changing climate.
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