Brazilian cities face complex challenges addressing the risk of extreme heat to residents’ health while also reducing socioeconomic inequality. According to one study, heat waves contributed to up to 55,000 excess deaths in Brazilian cities from 2000 to 2018. Heat risks will continue to increase in cities as climate change intensifies, and these risks can vary widely between neighborhoods and individuals. But many cities and communities lack access to data on the risks of extreme heat and insights on how to use that data to mitigate risks to residents.

Research and community engagement documenting differences in health impacts of extreme heat in Brazilian cities is needed to understand the role of individual and neighborhood-level factors and to inform urgent adaptation and other action.

WRI and partners seek to understand the connections between extreme heat, health and the social and built environment characteristics of neighborhoods to address the impacts of heat on health, especially for the most vulnerable urban residents.

WRI and Drexel University’s Climate Change and Urban Health in Latin America Project (SALURBAL-Climate) are conducting research exploring the role of social factors and multiple aspects of the built environment in determining health-related impacts across different neighborhoods in Belo Horizonte and Campinas. WRI is also engaging with community members and policymakers in both cities to guide our research efforts and to support the design and implementation of adaptation responses that safeguard health and promote equity. As two of the largest metropolitan areas in Brazil, Belo Horizonte and Campinas offer advantages in both data maturity and political momentum that make them ideal for piloting this methodology. The project aims for high impact change while creating a replicable and scalable methodology for other cities.

Our approach leverages previous efforts from WRI and SALURBAL and WRI Brasil’s extensive work with Brazilian cities and stakeholders that has responded to a need for both research and policy interventions to address urban heat in Latin America. Brazil has the largest urban population in Latin America, and Brazilian cities experience the largest burden of heat-related deaths among cities in the region . The federal government and some municipalities have identified these types of extreme events that are exacerbated by climate change as major risks to people and cities, and these actors are exploring adaptation strategies. Robust public health data is critical to informing the selection and implementation of actions to reduce heat-related morbidity and mortality and to prioritize vulnerable populations.

Our multi-country project team at WRI Brasil, WRI México, the Federal University of Minas Gerais, the University of São Paulo, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation and the University of California, Berkeley — will collect and harmonize data on neighborhood-level extreme heat exposure, hospitalizations, and mortality in Belo Horizonte and Campinas. The team will also conduct research on neighborhood-level social, built and natural environment characteristics, such as social inclusion, informal settlements, tree cover, and surface albedo in both cities. The analysis will explore how these physical and social factors can increase or decrease vulnerability to extreme temperature at the neighborhood scale.

Throughout study design and implementation, the team will engage with community and policy actors across municipal and national ministries with the goal of using research findings to drive interventions that target the most vulnerable neighborhoods and communities in each city and support changes toward cooler, healthier cities. The research results will also provide insight for other cities throughout the region and the world, and lessons learned about research design and approach will inform future efforts to document the connections between extreme temperatures and public health.