The Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, through the General Directorate of Public Health of the Canary Islands Health Service (SCS), coordinates the Plan for surveillance and prevention of health effects associated with excess temperatures, which establishes the necessary measures to reduce the effects on people's health associated with excessive temperatures.
This plan is aimed at the entire population, and especially designed for the most vulnerable groups to intense heat such as the elderly, children and people with chronic pathologies.
After a period of testing and validation of the alert system based on a territorial disaggregation of 182 MeteoSalud zones throughout Spain, compared to the previous provincial distribution, this Friday, May 16, the new alert system defined on thirteen MeteoZones is activated in the Canary Islands.
This plan will be active until September 30, although the General Directorate of Public Health of the SCS maintains surveillance of the possible effects of high temperatures on health continuously throughout the year.
These areas were determined by the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) for meteorological forecasting purposes with similar climatologies of adverse meteorological phenomena (FMA) and, therefore, can be considered areas of homogeneous territory from a climatological point of view in terms of the behavior of daily temperatures.
Thirteen MeteoSalud zones in the Canary Islands
The MeteoSalud zones in the Canary Islands with their corresponding temperature thresholds whose exceedance can activate risk warnings are the following:
On the island of Tenerife: metropolitan area (30.9º C), North Zone (31.5º C) and South, East and West zone (33.9º C).
On the island of Gran Canaria: North Zone - capital (32.4º C), Summits of Gran Canaria (33.2º C), and South, East and West Zone (34º C).
On the Island of La Palma: Summits of La Palma (35º C), East Zone (30.2º C) and West Zone (35.2º C).
The remaining zones coincide with the island territory of: Lanzarote (34.4º C), Fuerteventura (34º C), La Gomera (33º C) and El Hierro (31.5º C).
Preventive actions
The General Directorate of Public Health has established an epidemiological surveillance system of the impact of high temperatures on the health of the population coordinated with the care and emergency centers of the Canary Islands, as well as the warning to these centers and the affected municipalities of the forecast of alert situations.
All hospitals and the Canary Emergency Service (SUC) have personnel designated and specially trained to deal with and coordinate services effectively in the event of a possible heat wave, as well as communication channels. Likewise, Public Health provides the population with useful advice and practical measures to prevent the effects of exposure to high temperatures.
Health risk levels
Four levels of health risk are defined for high temperatures, which are identified by a traffic light color code: level 0 (absence of risk) and levels 1, 2 and 3 that indicate increasing risk to health and whose colors are yellow, orange and red, respectively.
By applying an algorithm to each of the MeteoSalud zones, the warning levels for excess temperature are determined. This algorithm is defined as the sum of the difference between the expected maximum temperature and the threshold temperature, for three days.
The resulting value will decide the level of the warning for epidemiological risk (0 to 3).
Ultraviolet radiation surveillance
In addition, in parallel, the General Directorate of Public Health maintains active surveillance for preventive actions of the effects of exposure to ultraviolet radiation on health, which establishes a series of recommendations to reduce the effects on people's health associated with ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Therefore, the different risk levels will continue to be updated as has been done throughout the year.
The specialists of the General Directorate of Public Health recall that protecting yourself from the sun is a responsibility that must be maintained not only in summer, but throughout the year, even on cloudy days. It is important to use sunscreen daily (SPF 30 or higher), stay in shaded areas and wear wide-brimmed hats and clothing that covers arms and legs, as well as wear appropriate sunglasses.
In addition, the technicians of the General Directorate of Public Health insist that sun damage is cumulative and that excessive exposure and burns in childhood increase the risk of some types of skin cancer many years, or even decades, later. Also, remember that on cloudy days, when the sensation of heat may be less, the sun's rays are still filtered through the clouds.
The Canary Islands is the region of Spain with the highest UV radiation throughout the year, according to data provided by the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET). UV radiation is a form of radiation emitted by the sun and artificial sources, such as tanning beds, and is part of the non-visible spectrum of sunlight.
