Summer 101: Ways to protect babies from heatwave

“Prepare your #Infants from the #Heatwave. Avoid #Heatwave by following these do’s & don’ts,” they captioned the post.

Below are tips by NDMA to keep your babies safe from heatwave:

* Do not leave kids unsupervised in parked cars. Vehicles can rapidly heat up to dangerous temperatures.
* Give them plenty of fluids to drink. Learn how to identify heat-related illnesses in infants.
* Check on the child for concentrated (dark-coloured) urine, which can indicate dehydration.

Prepare your #Infants from the #Heatwave. Avoid #Heatwave by following these do’s & don’ts. pic.twitter.com/Y5BoanIKfE

— NDMA India | राष्ट्रीय आपदा प्रबंधन प्राधिकरण 🇮🇳 (@ndmaindia) April 6, 2023

What is a heatwave?

A heatwave is a period of abnormally high temperatures, more than the normal maximum temperature, that occurs during the summer season in the North-Western and South Central parts of India. Exposure to excessive heat, even for a brief period, can have significant adverse effects on the body. But, the negative health impacts of heat are largely preventable.

Speaking with indianexpress.com, Dr Suresh Kumar Panuganti, Lead Consultant-Pediatric Critical Care and Pediatrics, Yashoda Hospitals Hyderabad, said, “Heatwaves can acutely impact large populations for short periods of time, often trigger public health emergencies, and result in excess mortality, and cascading socioeconomic impacts (e.g. lost work capacity and labor productivity). They can also cause loss of health service delivery capacity, where power shortages, which often accompany heat waves disrupt health facilities, transport, and water infrastructure”.

How does heat affect health?

Rapid rise in heat gain compromises the body’s ability to regulate temperature and can result in a cascade of illnesses, including heat cramps, heat exhaustion, heatstroke, and hyperthermia. Heat can have both direct and indirect effects on humans.

Dr Panuganti shares them as:

Direct effect of heatwave on humans: Heat illness, accelerated death from respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, hospitalization.

Indirect effect of heatwave on humans: Indirectly, it can impact health care services; increased risk of accidents like drowning is also noticed during summers; other indirect effects include increased transmission of food and water borne diseases and it can cause potential disruption of power, water, transport and productivity.

Rapid rise in heat gain compromises the body’s ability to regulate temperature and can result in a cascade of illnesses, including heat cramps, heat exhaustion, heatstroke, and hyperthermia. (Pic: Pixabay)

Phases of heat illness

Various stages of heat illness include, heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke; all three of them are dangerous and detrimental to a child’s health. “Some of the important symptoms include fatigue, excessive sweating, dizziness or faintness, cool skin, and peripheries. When left untreated, it can progress to severe form of heat illness – heat stroke,” says Dr Panuganti.

Dr Panuganti also shares major health concerns in children during summers in general. They are:

*Heat Illness
*Diarrheal illness
*Viral hepatitis
*Skin rashes
*Swimmers ears
*Conjunctivitis
*Viral exanthems like chickenpox

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