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Indoor Temperatures in Patient Waiting Rooms in Eight Rural Primary Health Care Centers in Northern South Africa and the Related Potential Risks to Human Health and Wellbeing

Increased temperatures affect human health and vulnerable groups including infants, children, the elderly and people with pre-existing diseases. In the southern African region climate models predict increases in ambient temperature twice that of the global average temperature increase. Poor ventilat...

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Autores principales: Wright, Caradee Y., Street, Renée A., Cele, Nokulunga, Kunene, Zamantimande, Balakrishna, Yusentha, Albers, Patricia N., Mathee, Angela
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5295294/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28067816
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14010043
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author Wright, Caradee Y.
Street, Renée A.
Cele, Nokulunga
Kunene, Zamantimande
Balakrishna, Yusentha
Albers, Patricia N.
Mathee, Angela
author_facet Wright, Caradee Y.
Street, Renée A.
Cele, Nokulunga
Kunene, Zamantimande
Balakrishna, Yusentha
Albers, Patricia N.
Mathee, Angela
author_sort Wright, Caradee Y.
collection PubMed
description Increased temperatures affect human health and vulnerable groups including infants, children, the elderly and people with pre-existing diseases. In the southern African region climate models predict increases in ambient temperature twice that of the global average temperature increase. Poor ventilation and lack of air conditioning in primary health care clinics, where duration of waiting time may be as long as several hours, pose a possible threat to patients seeking primary health care. Drawing on information measured by temperature loggers installed in eight clinics in Giyani, Limpopo Province of South Africa, we were able to determine indoor temperatures of waiting rooms in eight rural primary health care facilities. Mean monthly temperature measurements inside the clinics were warmer during the summer months of December, January and February, and cooler during the autumn months of March, April and May. The highest mean monthly temperature of 31.4 ± 2.7 °C was recorded in one clinic during February 2016. Maximum daily indoor clinic temperatures exceeded 38 °C in some clinics. Indoor temperatures were compared to ambient (outdoor) temperatures and the mean difference between the two showed clinic waiting room temperatures were higher by 2–4 °C on average. Apparent temperature (AT) incorporating relative humidity readings made in the clinics showed ‘realfeel’ temperatures were >4 °C higher than measured indoor temperature, suggesting a feeling of ‘stuffiness’ and discomfort may have been experienced in the waiting room areas. During typical clinic operational hours of 8h00 to 16h00, mean ATs fell into temperature ranges associated with heat–health impact warning categories of ‘caution’ and ‘extreme caution’.
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spelling pubmed-52952942017-02-07 Indoor Temperatures in Patient Waiting Rooms in Eight Rural Primary Health Care Centers in Northern South Africa and the Related Potential Risks to Human Health and Wellbeing Wright, Caradee Y. Street, Renée A. Cele, Nokulunga Kunene, Zamantimande Balakrishna, Yusentha Albers, Patricia N. Mathee, Angela Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Increased temperatures affect human health and vulnerable groups including infants, children, the elderly and people with pre-existing diseases. In the southern African region climate models predict increases in ambient temperature twice that of the global average temperature increase. Poor ventilation and lack of air conditioning in primary health care clinics, where duration of waiting time may be as long as several hours, pose a possible threat to patients seeking primary health care. Drawing on information measured by temperature loggers installed in eight clinics in Giyani, Limpopo Province of South Africa, we were able to determine indoor temperatures of waiting rooms in eight rural primary health care facilities. Mean monthly temperature measurements inside the clinics were warmer during the summer months of December, January and February, and cooler during the autumn months of March, April and May. The highest mean monthly temperature of 31.4 ± 2.7 °C was recorded in one clinic during February 2016. Maximum daily indoor clinic temperatures exceeded 38 °C in some clinics. Indoor temperatures were compared to ambient (outdoor) temperatures and the mean difference between the two showed clinic waiting room temperatures were higher by 2–4 °C on average. Apparent temperature (AT) incorporating relative humidity readings made in the clinics showed ‘realfeel’ temperatures were >4 °C higher than measured indoor temperature, suggesting a feeling of ‘stuffiness’ and discomfort may have been experienced in the waiting room areas. During typical clinic operational hours of 8h00 to 16h00, mean ATs fell into temperature ranges associated with heat–health impact warning categories of ‘caution’ and ‘extreme caution’. MDPI 2017-01-06 2017-01 /pmc/articles/PMC5295294/ /pubmed/28067816 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14010043 Text en © 2017 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Wright, Caradee Y.
Street, Renée A.
Cele, Nokulunga
Kunene, Zamantimande
Balakrishna, Yusentha
Albers, Patricia N.
Mathee, Angela
Indoor Temperatures in Patient Waiting Rooms in Eight Rural Primary Health Care Centers in Northern South Africa and the Related Potential Risks to Human Health and Wellbeing
title Indoor Temperatures in Patient Waiting Rooms in Eight Rural Primary Health Care Centers in Northern South Africa and the Related Potential Risks to Human Health and Wellbeing
title_full Indoor Temperatures in Patient Waiting Rooms in Eight Rural Primary Health Care Centers in Northern South Africa and the Related Potential Risks to Human Health and Wellbeing
title_fullStr Indoor Temperatures in Patient Waiting Rooms in Eight Rural Primary Health Care Centers in Northern South Africa and the Related Potential Risks to Human Health and Wellbeing
title_full_unstemmed Indoor Temperatures in Patient Waiting Rooms in Eight Rural Primary Health Care Centers in Northern South Africa and the Related Potential Risks to Human Health and Wellbeing
title_short Indoor Temperatures in Patient Waiting Rooms in Eight Rural Primary Health Care Centers in Northern South Africa and the Related Potential Risks to Human Health and Wellbeing
title_sort indoor temperatures in patient waiting rooms in eight rural primary health care centers in northern south africa and the related potential risks to human health and wellbeing
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5295294/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28067816
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14010043
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