Heat adaptation interventions are essential for managing the health impacts of a changing climate. IDS is supporting HeatNexus (Heat Adaptation Research for Action), a network of nine Wellcome-funded research projects focused on heat adaptation interventions to enhance health in various low- or middle-income countries (LMICs) from 2024 to 2030.

Visit the HeatNexus website

The IDS HeatNexus Network Support Programme will work with the nine research projects, facilitating:

• capacity enhancement and exchange
• knowledge translation and research impact communication
• research synthesis to identify coherent bodies of knowledge
• cross-cohort learning
• engaging policy makers and practitioners with the evidence.

HeatNexus aims to bridge the gap between cutting-edge heat adaptation research and real-world policy and community solutions to tackle the escalating health impacts of heat.

The nine HeatNexus research projects are:

• Trees in croplands in alleviating heat stress in agricultural workers, led by the LEAD Foundation, Tanzania
• Reflect: The effects of cool roofs on health, environmental and economic outcomes: a global multi-center study, led by the University of Auckland, New Zealand
• HABVIA: Heat adaptation benefits for vulnerable groups in Africa, led by the University of Cape Town, South Africa
• HAPI: Heat adaptation for pregnant women and infants, led by Wits RHI, South Africa
• Evaluating a heat-health action plan in rural Mexico to manage effects of heat, led by Instituto Nacional De Salud Publica, Mexico
• Assessing the effectiveness of heat adaptation and heat reduction interventions for vulnerable population in urban and rural settings of a low- and middle-income country, led by The Aga Khan University, Pakistan
• Economic and health impact assessment of heat adaptation action: case studies from India, led by the Institute of Economic Growth, India
• Heat adaptation through community-based approaches and research at SEACO, led by Monash University Malaysia
• Effect of housing modification on indoor thermal comfort and malaria vector densities in hot and humid zones of western and coastal Kenya, led by Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kenya