PUBLICATION: Chilling Prospects Special Edition: Heat Vulnerability & Mortality
Heatwaves in Europe and North America make global headlines. In much of Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, extreme heat is less visible because it is not a seasonal anomaly but a chronic and worsening condition — and the deaths it causes are often not counted.
In Europe and parts of the Americas, excess mortality studies, stronger surveillance systems, and growing epidemiological research are beginning to reveal the scale of heat-related deaths. Across much of the Global South, however, evidence remains limited. Death registration systems are incomplete, existing methods are often poorly suited to lower-income and tropical contexts, and the research base is still thin.
This Special Edition of Chilling Prospects examines what we know — and what we still do not know — about heat-related mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. It explains why better measurement matters, where current methods fall short, and why heat adaptation, cooling access, and energy access are critical to reducing risk. It concludes with a shared agenda for stronger evidence, deeper research collaboration, and heat action grounded in the realities of the communities most exposed.
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