Heat, Health, and Ambulances: A Growing Emergency

Extreme temperatures are not just uncomfortable — they're deadly. During the scorching summers of 2022 and 2023, over 109,000 lives were lost in Europe due to heat. But beyond the death toll, there’s another system under immense strain: ambulance services. In this episode, Tomás Janos dive into the first nationwide study in Europe on temperature-related ambulance dispatches, conducted in Czechia.

A study conducted by Tomás and colleagues found that hot days lead to nearly twice as many ambulance dispatches as cold days — with children and young adults being especially vulnerable. In fact, nearly 1 in 10 ambulance calls for children aged 0–9 during heatwaves can be attributed to high temperatures. What does this mean for the future of emergency services in a warming world?

Join us as we unpack what rising temperatures mean for public health systems and why we urgently need data from more countries to protect our most vulnerable populations.