“Heat is a medical emergency!” – with this warning, doctor and moderator Eckart von Hirschhausen sounds the alarm. Germany is not prepared for the heat, politics have failed. The medic calls us to action.
Nine of the ten hottest years since the weather began to be recorded are between 2010 and 2019, according to data from German weather service emerges. But the Climate crisis Not only threatens human lives in other countries, where there are droughts or rising sea levels almost every year.
Here in Germany, too, the climate crisis is threatening people’s health: 70,000 people died in the 2003 heat wave in Europe, said doctor and presenter Eckart von Hirschhausen in a new video. The Heat waves in Germany are a serious health risk – the risk is invisible and is therefore underestimated. Now the prominent doctor calls for action.
From muscle cramps to vomiting: Hirschhausen warns of the effects of heat
Heat hits the brain: This would not only show the pictures of Mallorca, where people without distance and mask party at Ballermann, jokes Hirschhausen. The fact that heat affects our brain has also been well researched in medicine.
The brain is the first to be affected, for example in thinking, even before sunstroke and heat stroke become noticeable, says the doctor. And when the brain stops working, “then we break down”.
Cardiovascular diseases caused by heat are known, but hardly anyone knows many other health problems: High UV radiation and ground-level ozone pollution lead to:
- Muscle cramps,
- Abdominal cramps,
- nausea,
- a headache,
- Vomit.
Children in particular are affected by the heat. For example, it reduces mental performance – then learning is hardly possible.
Heat risk groups: Corona is making the situation worse
Hirschhausen calls for more information and behavioral recommendations for the risk groups, such as people with previous illnesses or the elderly. More information is also important for the parents of infants and toddlers and for carers in daycare centers and schools, emphasizes Hirschhausen. Currently, the heat is an additional burden on the health system, because the corona risk groups overlap with the heat risk groups.
In many buildings it gets very hot inside too and that quickly becomes a problem, warns Hirschhausen: “How should someone be there for the patient when he himself is about to tip over?”
Doctors warn: “Germany is not prepared for heat waves”
(Photo: CC0 / Pixabay / geralt)
Politicians had already announced extensive measures after the great heat wave in 2003. At that time, 70,000 people in Europe had died as a result of the heat. The Federal Environment Agency had already drawn attention to the heat risks in recent years, the federal government then asked the states to draft heat action plans – “but precious little happened in practice“, Criticizes Hirschhausen.
Other medical professionals also warn: “Germany is not prepared for heat waves“, Says Martin Herrmann, for example, of the German Climate Change and Health Alliance (KLUG), a nationwide association of doctors, nursing professionals and other people working in the health sector.
With the warning app from the German Weather Service, there is also a warning system for heat. But Hirschhausen criticizes that it hardly works. The system is not properly known and the institutions for which such warnings are relevant are hardly informed.
What can be done against the heat wave?
Eckart von Hirschhausen is committed to Health for Future and points out: “No tablets or operations can help against the climate crisis, only effective climate policy. Climate protection is health protection“. During the heat, Hirschhausen also recommends specific measures:
- drink a lot
- stay in the shade
- Go to cooler places
- help other people, such as the elderly and diabetics
- inform about heat hazard
With regard to the climate crisis, Hirschhausen says: “There is hope if we act” and calls on everyone to stand up for climate protection. Also for the benefit of his own health: “Healthy people only exist on a healthy earth”.
Read about it: Climate protection: 15 tips against climate change that everyone can do
More on the topic at Utopia:
- Heat in the office: what to do about it
- 12 common mistakes that make you sleep worse in the heat
- Summer recipes: light dishes that are suitable when it is hot