Associated organisationsBoston University Medical Center · Harvard University · IND Abhiyant Tiwari 26230 · IND Ali SIE 31124 · IND Jose Hoyo-Montaño 86592 · Indian Institute of Public Health - Gandhinagar · Institut Superieur Des Sciences de La Population · London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine · Rutgers State University of New Jersey · University of Auckland · University of HeidelbergEurope PMC affiliations are not treated as award recipients or mapped locations.
Funding£1.9M
PeriodApr 2023 — Mar 2027
In plain English
AI plain-English summary
A trial in Burkina Faso found that affordable reflective roof coatings lowered indoor temperatures by up to 2.7 °C, and now researchers are testing whether that effect translates into real health benefits across four continents. The problem is stark: people in low- and middle-income countries face a triple burden of rising heat exposure, chronic health conditions, and poor housing. Yet there is almost no empirical evidence to guide which cooling interventions actually work in these settings. This study fills that gap by running standardised trials in Ouagadougou, Ahmedabad, Niue, and Sonora — sites chosen for their diverse climates, population densities, and levels of urbanisation. If cool roofs prove effective, the impact could be immediate and practical. Housing authorities and city planners in vulnerable urban areas would have a low-cost, passive intervention to recommend. Rather than relying on air conditioning — which is expensive, energy-intensive, and often unavailable — residents could simply coat their roofs. The findings could also shape global adaptation policy, giving governments and international agencies a tested tool to reduce heat stress without requiring major infrastructure changes.
View original technical description
Adaptation is essential for mitigating adverse human health effects from increasing heat exposure. However, we currently lack evidence – generated through empirical studies – guiding the uptake of interventions to reduce heat stress in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Preliminary findings from our ongoing trial in Nouna, Burkina Faso, show that affordable sunlight reflecting cool-roof coatings reduces indoor temperature up to 2.7 °C leading to possible health benefits. We leverage our expertise in executing housing- health intervention trials to conduct a global multi-centre study of cool-roof effectiveness on health (environmental and economic) outcomes in four urban LMICs – Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (sub-Saharan Africa), Ahmedabad, India (Asia), Niue (Oceania), and Sonora, Mexico (Latin America). Selected sites represent hotspots where people experience a triple burden from heat exposure, chronic health issues and vulnerable housing conditions (slums, informal settlements and low socioeconomic housing). The four sites exhibit diversity in climate profiles, level of socioeconomic development, population density and rates of urbanisation. Our trial will test the reproducibility of results globally and quantify whether cool roofs are an effective passive home cooling intervention with beneficial health effects for vulnerable populations. Findings will inform global policy responses on adaptation to increasing heat exposure from climate change.
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