Addressing heat-related health risks in urban India: Ahmedabad’s Heat Action Plan

The document details the development of Ahmedabad's Heat Action Plan, a pilot initiative led by a coalition of academic, health, and environmental groups including the NRDC and IIPH. Triggered by a deadly heat wave in May 2010, the plan focuses on early warning systems, community outreach, and capacity building for health workers. Key successes include strong municipal leadership and the use of scientific research to identify vulnerable groups, such as slum dwellers and outdoor workers. The document highlights the importance of interagency coordination and the need to treat heat waves as natural disasters to secure political will and funding.

• A severe heat wave in May 2010 in Ahmedabad, with peak temperatures reaching 46.8°C (116°F), resulted in 4,462 all-cause deaths, which represented an excess of 1,344 deaths or a 43.1% increase over the reference period.
• Effective implementation was enabled by appointing the city's Health Department as the lead agency to coordinate municipal activities, leveraging existing public health infrastructure and communication channels.
• The project encountered significant barriers in data collection because hospitals did not previously monitor heat-related illnesses and deaths, which hindered the ability to establish a baseline for evaluating the 2013 interventions.
• Changing the perception of heat waves from a general weather event to a 'disaster' requiring high-level preparation was critical for gaining political will, a shift supported by sharing mortality data and best practices from the United States and Europe.

APA

Shah, D. T., Mavalankar, D. D., Azhar, D. G. S., Jaiswal, A., & Connolly, M. (2014). Addressing heat-related health risks in urban India: Ahmedabad’s Heat Action Plan. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Ahmedebad_Inside_Story_final_web-res1.pdf

Chicago

Shah, Dr Tejas, Dr Dileep Mavalankar, Dr Gulrez Shah Azhar, Anjali Jaiswal, and Meredith Connolly. Addressing heat-related health risks in urban India: Ahmedabad’s Heat Action Plan. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2014. http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Ahmedebad_Inside_Story_final_web-res1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Shah |first1=Dr Tejas |last2=Mavalankar |first2=Dr Dileep |last3=Azhar |first3=Dr Gulrez Shah |last4=Jaiswal |first4=Anjali |last5=Connolly |first5=Meredith |title=Addressing heat-related health risks in urban India: Ahmedabad’s Heat Action Plan |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=May 2014 |url=http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Ahmedebad_Inside_Story_final_web-res1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{shah2014addressing, author = {Shah, Dr Tejas and Mavalankar, Dr Dileep and Azhar, Dr Gulrez Shah and Jaiswal, Anjali and Connolly, Meredith}, title = {{Addressing heat-related health risks in urban India: Ahmedabad’s Heat Action Plan}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2014}, month = may, url = {http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Ahmedebad_Inside_Story_final_web-res1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }