{
 "about": "The learning agenda on /evidence-map/: questions the evidence on this site has not yet answered, one or more for each cycle whose evidence is still emerging. 'have' restates the limits the cited studies give themselves (see EVIDENCE in data/core); 'could' and 'scale' are our suggestions, shown as such. The monthly update may add questions, or record a step in a question's 'history': each step has a date, a status (open, advanced or answered), a short note and, for advanced or answered, the ids of the records that moved it. Advanced means new evidence narrows the question; it is not an answer. 'status' is always the latest step. Every advanced or answered step has a matching 'question-advanced' change in data/site/growth.json. The first step is the day the question appeared on the site, from the repository history. 'underway' lists research already running that could help answer a question, each with the date it was added, what it is and a checked source [label, url]; it is not an answer and leaves the status unchanged. Questions are never deleted.",
 "questions": [
  { "id": "q-clinic-load", "loop": "clinic", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-10-31", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "underway": [{ "since": "2026-11-07", "text": "Singapore's HEAT-MAP study is building a fuller picture of how common heat-related illness is now and could become, with findings used to help older people recognise its symptoms.", "source": ["Ministry of Health, Singapore: Using findings of HEAT-MAP study to help elderly recognise common symptoms of heat-related illnesses, 2026", "https://www.moh.gov.sg/newsroom/using-findings-of-heat-map-study-to-help-elderly-recognise-common-symptoms-of-heat-related-illnesses-and-seek-timely-medical-advice/"] }],
    "q": "How much of the load on clinics in South and Southeast Asia during a heatwave is heat illness, and which early actions lower it?",
    "have": "A global health assessment that does not give Asia’s share, and one before-and-after evaluation in Ahmedabad where other changes may explain part of the effect.",
    "could": "Compare clinic records across hot seasons in cities with and without early-warning plans.", "scale": "Two or three cities, two seasons" },
  { "id": "q-uncounted", "loop": "invisible", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-10-31", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "How many heat deaths go uncounted, and which ways of counting close the gap?",
    "have": "Official counts that rise partly because reporting improves, and part-season counts that show the gap but not the true toll.",
    "could": "Compare excess deaths with recorded heat deaths in a few districts, and test simple reporting changes.", "scale": "A few districts, one or two seasons" },
  { "id": "q-prevention-pays", "loop": "reactive", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-10-31", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "underway": [{ "since": "2026-11-08", "text": "Bangkok’s 2026 financing strategy costs the city’s heat plan and proposes climate budgeting to identify and report adaptation spending. Spending tagged this way over several seasons could show what a city spends before heatwaves.", "source": ["UNDP and Bangkok Metropolitan Administration: Bangkok's financing strategy for tackling urban heat, 2026", "https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/2026-10/en-undp-bma_financial_strategy_on_urban_heat.pdf"] }],
    "q": "Does money spent on prevention before summer reduce what is spent during heatwaves?",
    "have": "One modelled estimate for Bangkok, multi-hazard estimates, and a review of heat plans as they stood in 2023.",
    "could": "Track what a city spends before and during heatwaves over several seasons, with its health and work outcomes.", "scale": "One or two cities, three seasons" },
  { "id": "q-heat-debt", "loop": "debt", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-10-31", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "How often does heat illness lead households to borrow, and how much?",
    "have": "Studies of household debt that do not measure heat’s part, and an older national survey of all medicine costs.",
    "could": "Follow households through a hot season with a short monthly survey of illness, costs and loans.", "scale": "Two countries, one season" },
  { "id": "q-credit-squeeze", "loop": "squeeze", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-10-31", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "How do small firms and their lenders in Asia respond when a heatwave empties streets and shops?",
    "have": "Evidence from rich economies and from Mexico, an industry statement naming heat among several causes, and one self-reported survey of vendors in Delhi.",
    "could": "With willing lenders, compare microfinance repayments against daily heat records.", "scale": "Two or three lenders, two seasons" },
  { "id": "q-cooling-access", "loop": "energypoverty", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-10-31", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "Who cannot afford to keep cool, measured directly rather than estimated?",
    "have": "A global model that estimates the risk of lacking cooling from income, power and heat data.",
    "could": "Add a few cooling questions to an existing national household survey.", "scale": "One country, one survey round" },
  { "id": "q-classroom-heat", "loop": "school", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-10-31", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "How much learning do children lose in hot classrooms and heat closures in Asia?",
    "have": "Strong evidence from schools in the United States, and counts of closures in Asia that measure days lost rather than learning lost.",
    "could": "Compare learning results with classroom temperatures over a school year.", "scale": "One country, one school year" },
  { "id": "q-farm-debt", "loop": "farmdebt", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-10-31", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "When heat cuts a harvest, how often does debt follow, and what helps farmers recover?",
    "have": "A debated national association, and studies from single sites or single crops.",
    "could": "Follow farm households across seasons, linking heat to yields, loans and recovery.", "scale": "Two regions, three seasons" },
  { "id": "q-green-rents", "loop": "greendisplace", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-10-31", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "When Asian cities add parks and trees, do rents rise and do residents move?",
    "have": "A multi-city study with no Asian cities, mostly US reviews, and one qualitative study in Bangkok.",
    "could": "Track rents and who lives where around new green spaces, before and after.", "scale": "Two cities, three years" },
  { "id": "q-street-trees", "loop": "deadgreen", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-10-31", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "Which street trees in humid Asian cities survive repeated heatwaves, and what care keeps them alive?",
    "have": "Tree-loss figures from Berlin, and a global comparison of species’ natural climate ranges.",
    "could": "Survey street-tree survival after each hot season, with watering and care records.", "scale": "Two cities, three seasons" },
  { "id": "q-heat-moves", "loop": "displacement", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-10-31", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "Does heat, on its own, push people to move within Asian countries, and where do they land?",
    "have": "Worst-case scenarios to 2050 that cover every climate driver together, not heat alone.",
    "could": "Link existing migration surveys with local heat records.", "scale": "One or two countries" },
  { "id": "q-protection-gap", "loop": "protection", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-10-31", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "How large are uninsured losses from heat, and could money arranged in advance narrow the gap?",
    "have": "Figures for all natural catastrophes together, and a qualitative regional review.",
    "could": "Estimate uninsured heat losses for one sector in one country, and test a pre-arranged payout design.", "scale": "One sector, one country" },
  { "id": "q-pregnancy-heat", "loop": "poverty", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-01", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "Which protections lower heat risks in pregnancy in South and Southeast Asia: rest and lighter work, cooler homes, antenatal advice, or cash that lets women stop work?",
    "have": "A review of 70 studies in 27 countries, only seven of them low- or middle-income, and one cohort of 800 working women in Tamil Nadu; none tests what reduces the risk.",
    "could": "Add heat exposure and simple protections to antenatal records in a few districts, and compare outcomes across hot seasons.", "scale": "Two or three districts, two to three years" },
  { "id": "q-newborn-units", "loop": "clinic", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-01", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "How hot do labour wards and newborn units get in a heatwave, and what keeps them safe when the power fails?",
    "have": "A WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA call to action that names heat among the risks to mothers and newborns, and no measurements from facilities in the region that we have found.",
    "could": "Log indoor temperatures and power cuts in a sample of facilities through one hot season, alongside any cooling and back-up power they have.", "scale": "Twenty to thirty facilities, one season" },
  { "id": "q-heat-suicide", "loop": "farmdebt", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-01", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "Beyond farm households in India, how does heat affect self-harm and suicide across South and Southeast Asia, and does income support in bad seasons reduce it?",
    "have": "One national study of India over 47 years linking heat in the growing season to suicides through crop losses; little from cities or other countries.",
    "could": "Link daily temperatures with suicide and self-harm records where they exist, and study districts where crop insurance or cash reached households in bad years.", "scale": "Two or three countries, existing records" },
  { "id": "q-heat-ipv", "loop": "poverty", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-01", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "Why is heat linked to more intimate partner violence in South Asia, and do income support, cooler homes or women’s groups weaken the link?",
    "have": "A cross-sectional study of 194,871 women in India, Nepal and Pakistan, using yearly temperatures; it shows an association, not the reasons for it.",
    "could": "Add heat and household strain questions to existing violence surveys, and compare places with and without seasonal income support.", "scale": "Existing surveys, with a qualitative study in a few districts" },
  { "id": "q-child-diarrhoea", "loop": "poverty", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-01", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "How much does heat add to diarrhoea and undernutrition in young children in the region, and how much do safe water and oral rehydration offset it?",
    "have": "A review of 26 studies finding about 7% more diarrhoea per 1 °C, uneven across regions and with signs of publication bias.",
    "could": "Combine clinic records of child diarrhoea with temperature and water-supply data in a few towns over several seasons.", "scale": "Three to five towns, three seasons" },
  { "id": "q-assisted-access", "loop": "clinic", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-07", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "Do heat warnings people can understand, with help to travel, get disabled and housebound older people to care sooner?",
    "have": "Interviews in Bangladesh and Thailand describe barriers and reliance on family; no evaluation of a support package in the region.",
    "could": "Offer accessible warnings and assisted transport in some neighbourhoods and compare time to care with similar neighbourhoods.", "scale": "Illustrative: a few hundred households over one hot season" },
  { "id": "q-dormitory-nights", "loop": "sleep", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-07", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "Does a practical cooling package for workers' dormitories improve sleep after hot shifts?",
    "have": "Migrant workers in Singapore link hot dormitories with poor sleep; no tested dormitory intervention in the region.",
    "could": "Compare sleep, next-day tiredness and costs in dormitories with and without simple cooling changes.", "scale": "Illustrative: a few dormitories over six weeks" },
  { "id": "q-adolescent-heat", "loop": "school", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-07", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "Do reliable drinking water and planned breaks help school-age adolescents protect themselves from heat?",
    "have": "A study of young adults aged 19 to 24 in Yogyakarta; younger adolescents were not included.",
    "could": "Compare protective habits and symptoms in schools with and without water points and break schedules.", "scale": "Illustrative: twenty schools over one hot season" },
  { "id": "q-postpartum-heat", "loop": "clinic", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-07", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "How does indoor heat affect health and care-seeking in the first weeks after birth?",
    "have": "Guidance in India covers breastfeeding and infant care in heat, but no study in the region measures postpartum heat outcomes.",
    "could": "Follow mothers and babies after birth with indoor temperature sensors and records of symptoms and clinic visits.", "scale": "Illustrative: a few hundred mothers over two hot seasons" },
  { "id": "q-cool-refuge-access", "loop": "displacement", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-07", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "What stops people without secure housing from using a nearby cool place during hot spells?",
    "have": "Research on people without secure housing in Nagpur and Delhi exists, but outcome evidence is thin.",
    "could": "Ask people without secure housing about the barriers, then test changes to opening hours, location and outreach.", "scale": "Illustrative: two cities over one hot season" },
  { "id": "q-kidney-persist", "loop": "clinic", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-07", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "Which repeated heat exposures lead to kidney harm that lasts beyond the hot season?",
    "have": "Single tests in Tamil Nadu and self-reports in Thailand raise the concern; persistent harm and other causes are hard to separate, and heat alone does not explain Sri Lanka's kidney disease of unknown cause.",
    "could": "Follow workers before, during and after the hot season, with personal exposure, drinking and repeat kidney tests at least three months apart.", "scale": "Illustrative: a few hundred workers over two hot seasons" },
  { "id": "q-debt-duration", "loop": "debt", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-07", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "When does borrowing for treatment and lost income in a heatwave leave debt outstanding after the season?",
    "have": "Worker accounts from Dhaka describe borrowing; repayment over time is rarely tracked.",
    "could": "Keep monthly household accounts alongside illness records and local heat, with cooler months for comparison.", "scale": "Illustrative: a few hundred households over two years" },
  { "id": "q-night-recovery", "loop": "sleep", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-07", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "Does a cooler night help people recover for the next day's work without adding costs they cannot afford?",
    "have": "Studies link heat with poorer sleep, and small roof comparisons measured daytime heat; the two have not been tested together in the region.",
    "could": "Try night cooling in a crossover design, measuring bedroom heat, sleep, next-day function and spending.", "scale": "Illustrative: a few hundred workers over six weeks" },
  { "id": "q-care-time", "loop": "squeeze", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-07", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "How does heat shift unpaid care, housework and paid work done at home?",
    "have": "Surveys show heat getting in the way of housework and care competing with paid work, but little time accounting.",
    "could": "Collect time diaries from several household members in hot and cooler weeks, with indoor heat.", "scale": "Illustrative: two hundred households" },
  { "id": "q-early-growth", "loop": "poverty", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-07", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "Does repeated heat at home affect babies' growth, once diet and infections are taken into account?",
    "have": "A study in Bangladesh was found but its full text could not be checked, so no effect is shown on the map.",
    "could": "Follow families from pregnancy into infancy with home heat, feeding, infections and measured growth.", "scale": "Illustrative: a few hundred families over two years" },
  { "id": "q-outage-heat", "loop": "energywater", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-07", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "How much extra heat do people face when the power fails during a hot, low-water spell?",
    "have": "Utility accounts record supply limits, and cyclone research finds humid heat soon after storms; household heat during outages is rarely measured.",
    "could": "Link outage logs with indoor sensors and daily symptoms, comparing areas with faster and slower restoration.", "scale": "Illustrative: a few hundred households over one hot season" },
  { "id": "q-joint-alerts", "loop": "clinic", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-07", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "Does one warning for heat and polluted air together protect people better than two separate warnings?",
    "have": "Thai research finds pollution more deadly on hot days, but heat and pollution do not always peak together.",
    "could": "Compare warning formats across similar communities, measuring understanding, behaviour and personal exposure.", "scale": "Illustrative: two dozen communities over one hot season" },
  { "id": "q-multi-hazard-schools", "loop": "school", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-07", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "Do learning spaces built for storms and heat together keep more children learning through both?",
    "have": "Cox's Bazar has a rebuilt centre with fans and solar backup, without a comparison of heat or attendance.",
    "could": "Compare indoor heat, closures and attendance in rebuilt and similar centres through a hot season and a storm season.", "scale": "Illustrative: twenty learning centres over a year" },
  { "id": "q-outbreak-cooling", "loop": "clinic", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-07", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "Can cooling for staff reduce heat strain while keeping infection protection in place?",
    "have": "Health workers reported heat symptoms in protective clothing, and a small test found an iced drink improved comfort.",
    "could": "Test staff cooling in a crossover trial under infection-control rules, measuring heat strain, symptoms and tasks.", "scale": "Illustrative: about eighty health workers in four facilities" },
  { "id": "q-successive-shocks", "loop": "poverty", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-07", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "Do heat and later floods leave the same households less able to recover than either alone?",
    "have": "Pakistan's 2022 assessment records food pressures building from heat to floods, but not for the same households.",
    "could": "Follow households hit by both and by one, recording harvests, food and recovery spending.", "scale": "Illustrative: a few hundred households over two farming seasons" },
  { "id": "q-soil-moisture", "loop": "soil", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-07", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "Does keeping soils moist lower afternoon heat without raising the humid heat that farmworkers feel?",
    "have": "Research on India's 2015 heatwave links drying soils to the heat, and irrigation research shows cooler but more humid air.",
    "could": "Compare matched fields with different soil-moisture practices, measuring air heat, humid heat and soil water.", "scale": "Illustrative: twenty to thirty paired fields over two hot seasons" },
  { "id": "q-cooling-debt", "loop": "energypoverty", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-07", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "Do earnings lost or health costs paid in a heatwave make cooling harder to afford the next season?",
    "have": "Income shapes which cooling households own, but the steps from lost earnings to debt to less cooling are not tracked.",
    "could": "Follow households monthly through heat, earnings, illness costs, debt, electricity spending and actual cooling use.", "scale": "Illustrative: several hundred households over two hot seasons" },
  { "id": "q-waste-heat", "loop": "cooling", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-07", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "Does moving air conditioner condensers lower street heat and later electricity use in real neighbourhoods?",
    "have": "A model of Rajkot city blocks suggests it could; it has not been tested in occupied buildings.",
    "could": "Compare paired buildings before and after moving condensers, with outdoor and indoor sensors and electricity meters.", "scale": "Illustrative: a dozen to twenty buildings over one hot season" },
  { "id": "q-short-nights", "loop": "sleep", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-07", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "Does a hot, short night raise the next day's heat strain during ordinary work?",
    "have": "Small laboratory studies found no overall rise after short sleep, but they did not test long humid workdays.",
    "could": "Measure bedroom heat, sleep, next-day exposure and heat strain repeatedly in working people, without depriving anyone of sleep.", "scale": "Illustrative: a hundred or more workers over four to six weeks" },
  { "id": "q-outer-islands", "loop": "poverty", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-07", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "How well do national estimates of work lost to heat describe workers on the Maldives' outer islands?",
    "have": "A national model with stated limits on local data and on assumptions about workers.",
    "could": "Compare personal heat, rest time and output across matched workplaces on several islands.", "scale": "Illustrative: about a hundred workers on six islands over one hot season" },
  { "id": "q-elevation-health", "loop": "clinic", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-07", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "Do heat symptoms and clinic visits differ between lowland, hill and highland settlements?",
    "have": "Nepal has workplace measurements in the Tarai and studies of warming by altitude, but no linked comparison.",
    "could": "Use the same sensors and symptom definitions across altitudes, linked to clinic records.", "scale": "Illustrative: a dozen settlements across three altitudes over two hot seasons" },
  { "id": "q-missing-indicator", "loop": "invisible", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-07", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "How many heat-related clinic visits can a linked reporting pilot find where national profiles leave the field empty?",
    "have": "Timor-Leste's profile leaves heat-related deaths and illness unspecified, alongside an approved health adaptation plan.",
    "could": "Pilot agreed case definitions, daily weather links and record checks in a few facilities.", "scale": "Illustrative: four health facilities for six months" },
  { "id": "q-cooling-package", "loop": "energypoverty", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-07", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "Does cooling matched to local heat reduce strain in homes without adding bills people cannot afford?",
    "have": "Short laboratory trials show fans help in some conditions and not others; there is no household evidence in the region.",
    "could": "Compare supported cooling packages in occupied homes, with consent, health oversight and cost tracking.", "scale": "Illustrative: about a hundred households in contrasting climates over one hot season" },
  { "id": "q-cold-storage-service", "loop": "farmdebt", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-07", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "Does pay-per-use cold storage cut food losses and leave producers better off after fees?",
    "have": "A pilot in Muzaffarpur, India, offered pay-per-use storage; its outcomes have not been independently checked.",
    "could": "Phase access in with comparison producers, temperature logs and accounts of what producers earn after fees.", "scale": "Illustrative: a few hundred producers at four markets over two harvests" },
  { "id": "q-cool-space-after", "loop": "clinic", "status": "open",
    "history": [{ "date": "2026-11-07", "status": "open", "note": "Opened on the learning agenda" }],
    "q": "How long does protection last after people leave a cooling space?",
    "have": "A review found only short-lived benefits in simulations and no real-world health outcomes for users.",
    "could": "Follow consenting users and similar non-users through the rest of hot days, measuring exposure and health.", "scale": "Illustrative: about 150 people over six hot weeks" }
 ]
}