UN: Tanzania among African countries to suffer massive heatwaves in future

Arusha. Tanzania, along with other African countries, is poised to face significant challenges from the massive heat waves predicted to impact the globe over the next 25 years.

According to an official statement from the United States, over 70 percent of the global workforce is at risk of death or injury due to extreme heat.

The United Nations (UN) has reported that 2.4 billion people are threatened by increasingly severe heat waves, primarily driven by a human-induced climate crisis fuelled by fossil fuels.

The UN forecasts that these heat waves could result in up to 18,970 deaths annually.

Additionally, research by the World Economic Forum (WEF) suggests that heat waves may claim up to 1.6 million lives by 2050.

In Africa, nearly 93 percent of the workforce is exposed to extreme heat, while on the Arabian Peninsula, over 83 percent of workers face excessive heat.

In Europe and Central Asia, the risk to workers from extreme heat is escalating faster than in other regions, having increased by more than 17 percent since 2020.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres is calling for heightened international cooperation to mitigate these risks and address the growing threats posed by extreme heat.

"Extreme heat is having an extreme impact on people and the planet. The world must rise to the challenge of rising temperatures.”

Guterres calls for action in four areas; these include caring for the vulnerable, protecting workers, using data and science to boost resilience, and limiting global temperature rises to 1.5°C by replacing fossil fuels with renewable sources of energy.

The UN Report says heat waves can strike in most areas of the world, including Polar Regions, but traditionally hot areas are posing increased risks to workers as the planet warms.

On the other hand, the United States’ National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) identifies workers most at risk from excessive heat.

They include “firefighters, bakery workers, farmers, construction workers, miners, boiler room workers, factory workers and others.”

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health says workers aged 65 or older who are overweight, have heart disease, or have high blood pressure are at greater risk from extreme heat.

Almost 23 million workplace injuries worldwide are caused by excessive heat, according to the UN Secretary-General, who warned about the situation during his July 2024 address.

Heat stress is ‘an invisible killer,’ the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) report says, adding that it can “immediately impact workers on the job by leading to illnesses such as heat exhaustion, heatstroke and even death.

In the longer term, workers are developing serious and debilitating chronic diseases, impacting the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, as well as the kidneys.”

The International Labour Organisation says 26.2 million people are living with chronic kidney disease as a result of heat stress in the workplace.