"Heatwave risks and impacts are felt unequally globally but also the way in which the effects of heatwaves are distributed are unequal within a population. This is not because the human body cannot withstand the heat, but because some individuals are less able to respond to it.

The human body can cope with high temperatures, but over a certain threshold we begin to become unwell. The trouble is we don’t live in a laboratory where all the conditions are controlled. Some of us live in poorly connected or adapted places. Some places also have high humidity which affects the human body’s own cooling method – sweating. Some of us live in densely built up areas away from green space or the coast where we could go to cool down. So the standard medical model does not work for everybody and we need to consider a social model of health in relation to dealing with the problems heatwaves can pose.

"It’s only getting hotter. The increased incidence of heatwaves is happening now – not forecast for a few years’ time. So governments looking to mitigate against climate change need to also be dealing adapting to living with higher temperatures in order to protect lives."