Large scale, remote survey on the COVID-19 heat nexus completed

As part of our engagement on COVID-19, in August 2020 the Cool Infrastructures project completed a rapid, large scale data collection exercise across four cities in India, Pakistan, Cameroon and Indonesia. The exercise was intended to produce critical information and resources about the nexus of Covid-19 and extreme heat for particularly vulnerable urban populations. 

The survey was designed to support the data needs of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, as they worked to respond to the pandemic. 

Working with Geopoll, an international remote survey organisation, research teams in each country interviewed a total of 4,400 people. Our survey questions were designed to better understand the impact of measures to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 on heat stress. 

The survey tool was developed with input from the Global Heat Health Information Network and the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre. Geopoll translated the survey into and ran the survey in two waves.  

The exercise was intended to generate new evidence about the impact of public health interventions around COVID-19 on heat health and to inform a range of stakeholders. 

The survey outcomes will provide the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre with an initial analysis they can use to refine their responses to Covid-19. 

The survey instrument is available for use by collaborators who are interested in replicating the study elsewhere. 

We are currently working to make the final dataset openly available for future research. This dataset contains the answers to 30 questions from 1100 people in four cities: Doula, Karachi, Hyderabad, and Jakarta. 

The findings will be made available in September 2020 in a range of formats.