Evidence-Based Communication Strategies for Protecting Communities from Extreme Heat
This series of guidance notes presents evidence-based communication strategies for protecting vulnerable communities from extreme heat, drawing on heat risk perception surveys conducted across five cities: Choluteca and San Lorenzo (Honduras), Surabaya and Medan (Indonesia), and Tanga and Unguja (Tanzania).
Across all contexts, surveys consistently identify older adults, outdoor workers, pregnant women, people with pre-existing health conditions, low-income households, and people in informal settlements as priority groups. A shared finding across all locations is a significant gap between heat risk awareness and protective action — most people recognize extreme heat as a problem and have experienced its effects, yet only a small fraction consistently change their behaviour during heatwaves. Structural barriers including unreliable electricity, limited water access, poor housing ventilation, and economic constraints further reduce communities’ capacity to act on generic advice.
Each guidance note applies evidence-based behaviour change principles — including keeping messages simple, pairing risks with actionable steps, personalizing risk framing, and directly addressing local barriers — and provides audience-specific messaging, trusted communication channels, and practical campaign ideas tailored to each context. Context-specific findings add nuance: in Tanzania, widely held fatalistic beliefs about heat require messaging that engages religious leaders and frames protective action within faith-based values; in Indonesia, low awareness of heat’s lethal potential calls for communications that go beyond awareness to urgency; in Honduras, electricity outages during peak heat periods create critical information gaps that demand low-tech, community-based outreach approaches.
Together, these notes offer a practical resource for Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies, local organizations, and health communicators designing people-centered heat action campaigns in urban settings across the Global South.