The warm temperatures directly affect our health too.
In 2017 itself, there were 13,000 dengue cases! NEA noted that warmer conditions may lead to faster breeding cycles for the Aedes mosquitoes and shorter incubation time for the dengue virus.
As seen from the chart below, there has been a rise in dengue cases over the years. Compare 2016 (marked in red) with 2015 (green). This is consistent with Singapore’s increasing temperature trend due to climate change. The peak dengue season, characterised by the most cases, is usually from June to October. This period tends to be the warmer period in the year.
The problem is currently so severe that The National Dengue Prevention Campaign was launched in response. They facilitate ongoing efforts to urge people in being more vigilant against breeding mosquitoes.
Not only that, warm temperatures may bring about heat stress and discomfort among the elderly and sick. An interesting study was conducted by Xu et al. (2018) regarding the weather impact on heat-related illness in Singapore.
| MinT | MeanT | MaxT | RH | Wdsp | WBGT_MeanT | HRI | |
| Min. | 20.2 | 23.1 | 23.6 | 66.0 | 0.1 | 26.1 | 0 |
| 1st Qu. | 24.0 | 26.9 | 30.8 | 79.8 | 1.1 | 28.8 | 0 |
| Median | 24.8 | 27.7 | 31.8 | 83.1 | 1.7 | 29.5 | 0 |
| 3rd Qu. | 25.7 | 28.6 | 32.6 | 86.8 | 2.5 | 30.1 | 0 |
| Max. | 29.1 | 30.9 | 36.0 | 99.5 | 5.9 | 32.3 | 15 |
| Mean (SD) | 24.9 (1.2) | 27.7 (1.2) | 31.6 (1.6) | 83.4 (5.0) | 1.9 (1.0) | 29.4 (0.9) | 0.34 (0.80) |
| Notes: Minimum Temperature (MinT), Mean Temperature (MeanT), Maximum Temperature (MaxT), Relative Humidity (RH) and Wind Speed (Wdsp), (Approximated) Wet-bulb globe temperature index (WBGT_MeanT) and Heat Related Illness (HRI). | |||||||
At first glance, it might seem as though the higher the temperature, the more the HRI as well. However, the researchers intended to examine the combined effect of weather conditions on HRI. Also, they found out that other factors e.g. day-of-the-week could possibly affect HRI results as well. E.g. certain days such as Sundays where marathons were held saw larger HRI admissions. Hence, temperature might not be the sole deciding factor for HRI.
There has been limited research on this issue. However, the researchers generally predicted that climate change will pose a health risk to HRI, especially those who engage in strenuous outdoor physical activities. With climate change becoming an increasing concern, more studies might be done in future to establish a clear relationship between temperature and HRI.