Indoor Temperatures in Patient Waiting Rooms in Eight Rural Primary Health Care Centers in Northern South Africa and the Related Potential Risks to Human Health and Wellbeing.

ABSTRACT: Increased temperatures affect human health and vulnerable groups including infants, children, the elderly and people with pre-existing diseases. In the southern African region climate models predict increases in ambient temperature twice that of the global average temperature increase. Poor ventilation and lack of air conditioning in primary health care clinics, where duration of waiting time may be as long as several hours, pose a possible threat to patients seeking primary health care. Drawing on information measured by temperature loggers installed in eight clinics in Giyani, Limpopo Province of South Africa, we were able to determine indoor temperatures of waiting rooms in eight rural primary health care facilities. Mean monthly temperature measurements inside the clinics were warmer d

SUBMITTER: Wright CY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5295294 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature