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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...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2017
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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’. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-5295294 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2017 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
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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