Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland is leading the REFLECT project, which is testing whether reflective white roof paint provides relief from extreme heat in Niue, Mexico, India and Burkina Faso.

Climate change has pushed temperatures to extremes that can be harmful for people’s health in these nations and many others around the world, says Dr Noah Bunkley from the University’s Te Poutoko Ora a Kiwa, Centre for Pacific and Global Health. Bunkley is managing the global project, which is led by centre director Professor Sir Collin Tukuitonga and Dr Aditi Bunker from Heidelberg University in Germany.

“Cool roofs could be a climate change adaptation tool that might have huge benefits for the health of people in vulnerable communities,” Bunkley says.

“We know that heat kills: it increases the risk of health problems, such as heart disease, kidney failure, heat stroke, and diabetes.

“We urgently need solutions that are affordable, easy to implement, safe, and scalable.”

Temperatures soar above 45 degrees Celsius in Mexico, India and Burkina Faso and above 32 degrees in Niue, where humidity can linger above 90 percent.

“Climate change has more severe impacts on low-income communities, those living in fragile housing and people who don’t have the means to adapt,” Bunkley says.

The University of Auckland team is carrying out the research on cool roofs in Niue, while local universities are contributing to the research in the other three nations.

While more than 500 roofs have been painted so far, hundreds more households in Mexico are set to receive cool roof coatings.

Since the project launched in Niue in 2023, more than 200 of the 530 households on the tiny Pacific Island have signed up to take part.

Half those houses have had their roofs painted, while the other half are in the research control group, which will get cool roofs if they prove effective.

People aged over 18 within the research households will have physical health assessments for a year and cognitive tests. Surveys will check whether they suffer heat-related conditions, assess their mental health and wellbeing, and note how often they visit healthcare providers and hospitals.

“We’re thinking of all the impacts heat has on people’s lives and measuring to see if cool roofs have an influence,” says Bunkley.

The project aims to generate detailed evidence that could be used in future to seek funding, so the project could be rolled out across areas of the world where heat has become a health threat.

“Serendipity” drew Bunkley into the cool roofs project, which is the topic of his PhD in public health.

When he was 25 years old, he spent two months in a rural hospital Tanzania in East Africa, as part of training for his first degrees in medicine and surgery.

“It was really eye opening to see the conditions people lived in and the healthcare provided, which was very minimal, because of the lack of resources for doctors working there and for patients.

“Some patients couldn’t afford antibiotics, so their infections got so bad it led to amputations.

“That made me passionate about global health equity,” he says.

He began to consider taking a masters degree in public health, an idea that gained momentum when he worked as a junior doctor at Tauranga Hospital for three years.

“I was seeing lots of people with preventable conditions and realised the same people were coming in with the same conditions again and again.

“I wanted to do something to address the underlying causes of disease and to help create healthy environments where people can thrive.

“Public health offers that potential to improve the lives of people on a large scale,” he says.

After gaining his masters, Bunkley was asked to help seek a grant for the global cool roofs project and the Wellcome Trust came through with two million pounds.

When REFLECT leaders suggested he could get involved in the research and work towards a PhD in public health at the same time, he leapt at the chance.

“It was such a cool opportunity to work on a project that has massive potential to help improve global health equity and tackle some of the impacts of climate change too,” says the 33-year-old.

Since then, the Rockefeller Foundation has provided funding for the REFLECT project team to gather in Italy and the Niue research has been supported with grants from the Tindall Foundation, Habitat for Humanity and The Pacific Community.

Results from the research are expected early next year.