Human Health Vulnerability to Summer Heat Extremes in Romanian-Bulgarian Cross-Border Area

Population Vulnerability to the SARS‐CoV‐2 Virus Infection. A County‐Level Geographical‐Methodological Approach in Romania

“…These facts decrease the efficiency and the purpose of the vaccination process as the main tool to fight the virus. A detailed study focusing on the territorial features of the vaccination process (Mocanu et al., 2021 ) revealed that it is impacted by several dysfunctions, such as: (a) the concentration in urban settlements (83.2% of total of 357 vaccination centres functioning at the end of February 2021, which means that a large number of people living in large rural areas remain outside vaccination process); (b) the imbalance with the high share of elderly people, making up over 30% of the population (which are registered in the rural settlements from the southern half of Romania, as well as in the western parts, especially in the mountain areas (Gheţău et al., 2016 ; Mitrică et al., 2019 ; Mocanu et al., 2021 )); (c) the access to the national and county road network. Given these issues, the importance of prevention is crucial and it starts with each individual.…”

“…( 2021 ); Mocanu et al. ( 2021 ); Stângă and Grozavu ( 2012 ); Tanislav et al. ( 2009 ) addressed population vulnerability to various extreme events (i.e., earthquake, flood, drought).…”

“…The validation of the selected indicators has been done using the expert judgment approach and the focus group technique (Dumitraşcu et al., 2018 ; Grigorescu et al., 2021 ; Mocanu et al., 2021 ): (a) an institutional focus group consisting of several institutions (e.g., the National Center for Disease Surveillance and Control, the Romanian General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations) and (b) an academic focus group of experts in medical geography, public health, spatial analysis, epidemiology and health management. The members of the two focus groups were asked to express their opinions in terms of selection, processing and interpretation of indicators which could significantly improve the methodology.…”

Social vulnerability indicators to the Health Impacts of Climate Change: A Scoping Review

“…Mechanisms for this vulnerability are reduced thermoregulatory function with age, worsened perceptions of temperature and risk, lacked engagement in adequate adaptive behaviors, co-occurring chronic illness, limited mobility and p.8-40 Preprint v.2 other socioeconomic risks such as living alone and lower socioeconomic status (28,29,38,49,51). Age has also been found to have a U-shaped relationship with the negative health effects of climate change, with younger age group (e.g., those under five years of age) and older age group (e.g., those over the age of 65) most commonly reported to be susceptible to the health effects of heatwaves and extreme temperatures (31,32,41,53,55,60). Occasional studies found that other age groups (e.g., middle-aged) were susceptible to high temperatures and heatwaves depending on the setting (61,80).…”

More Persistent Summer Compound Hot Extremes Caused by Global Urbanization

“…Hot extremes that persist for a few days have severe adverse impacts on human health and ecosystem (Easterling et al., 2000; Mocanu et al., 2021). Prolonged exposure to hot extremes has been shown to increase the incidence of diseases (e.g., insomnia, cardiovascular, and respiratory diseases) and mortality rates (M. Li et al., 2015; McMichael et al., 2006; WMO, 2013; Xu et al., 2016).…”