PLAN NACIONAL CONTRA EL CALOR

On May 15, the NATIONAL PLAN FOR PREVENTIVE ACTIONS FOR THE EFFECTS OF EXCESS TEMPERATURES ON HEALTH 2023.

The objective of this National Plan, which has been strengthened since 2004, is to prevent the effects of high temperatures on health.

Excessive heat can alter our vital functions if the human body is not able to compensate for variations in body temperature. Some of the health problems that can occur are cramps, dehydration, heat stroke and heat stroke (with multi-organ problems that can include symptoms such as unsteady gait, seizures and even coma)..

The plan considers three risk factors associated with high temperatures: personal, environmental and local factors.

In relation to personal factors, the most vulnerable groups are minors, the elderly, pregnant women and people with underlying chronic pathologies.

Regarding environmental factors, situations such as dependency, isolation, marginalization, low economic resources, disability, carrying out work or sports abroadetc… further aggravate the situation of vulnerability to excessive temperatures.

Although the factors indicated above act in a general way, local factors such as demographics, which determine the composition of the population pyramid and, therefore, the importance of the most susceptible groups; and climatology, to the extent that people adapt to the local climate, are decisive factors since they determine the comfort temperature, the threshold temperatures to be considered and the temperature-mortality association.

The adaptation mechanisms of the population to excessive temperatures make it necessary to periodically review the temperature thresholds, with those shown in the following map being the ones proposed for this year.

The Plan establishes 4 levels of risk and the corresponding preventive actions for each of them.

To minimize damage, the Ministry of Health proposes the following decalogue of general recommendations:

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