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Relevance of thermal environment to human health: a case study of Ondo State, Nigeria

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Abstract

The interconnection between weather and climate and the performance, well-being, and human health cannot be overemphasized. The relationship between them is of both local and global significance. Information about weather, climate, and thermal environment is very important to human health and medical practitioners. The most crucial environmental information needed by medical practitioners and for maintaining human health, performance, and well-being are thermal conditions. The study used meteorological variables: air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, solar radiation, and RayMan model as an analytical tool to compute physiologically equivalent temperature (PET) in order to assess thermo-physiological thresholds in Ondo State. The study revealed that there are marked spatial and seasonal variations in the environmental thermal conditions in the study area. The results of physiologically equivalent temperature for different grades of thermal sensation and physiological stress on human beings indicate that about 60 % of the total study period (1998–2008) fall under physiological stress level of moderate heat stress (PET 31–36 °C). In derived savannah, 32.6 % out of the total study period was under strong heat stress. In view of this, the study concluded that Ondo State may likely be prone to heat-related ailments and that some of the death recorded in the State, in recent times, may be heat-related mortality, but this is difficult to ascertain because there is no postmortem records in Nigeria where it could be confirmed. This type of study is relevant to help government to improve health care interventions and achieve Millennium Development Goals in health sector.

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Acknowledgments

This research was partially funded by the African Doctoral Dissertation Research Fellowship offered by the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) in partnership with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). The meteorological data were provided by the Agroclimatological and Ecological Monitoring Unit, Akure, Ondo State, and Nigerian Meteorological Agency, Lagos, Nigeria. We also thank the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany, for the award of International Climate Protection Fellowship to the lead author of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Meteorological Institute, Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Werthmannstr. 10, 79085, Freiburg, Germany

    Akinyemi Gabriel Omonijo & Andreas Matzarakis

  2. Department of Agricultural Technology, Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria

    Akinyemi Gabriel Omonijo

  3. Department of Environmental Management & Toxicology, University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria

    Akinyemi Gabriel Omonijo & Clement Olabinjo Adeofun

  4. Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Johannesburg, Kingsway Campus, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Olusegun Oguntoke

Authors
  1. Akinyemi Gabriel Omonijo
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  2. Clement Olabinjo Adeofun
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  3. Olusegun Oguntoke
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  4. Andreas Matzarakis
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Correspondence to Akinyemi Gabriel Omonijo.

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Omonijo, A.G., Adeofun, C.O., Oguntoke, O. et al. Relevance of thermal environment to human health: a case study of Ondo State, Nigeria. Theor Appl Climatol 113, 205–212 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-012-0777-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-012-0777-9

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