Climate and Health Program Evaluation
NCDHHS Climate and Health Program regularly checks how well our programs are working.
To guide our evaluations, we follow the:
This helps us learn what’s working and what needs improvement. We use what we learn to make our programs better for the communities we serve.
Evaluation Plan
NCDHHS Climate and Health Program Evaluation Plan (2021)
Evaluation Results
Heat Health Alert System (HHAS)
2025 Heat Health Alert System Evaluation Report
Key Findings
The new seasonal thresholds better address the increased risk of heat-related illness in the early and late parts of the heat season when people are less used to the heat.
Heat alerts sent a few days in advance were usually accurate and matched the heat risk for that date.
The Climate and Health Program was 100% successful in sending heat alerts when we expected the heat index to be above the heat thresholds. For the 2026 Heat Season, alerts are also being sent when the heat index is expected to equal the heat threshold.
There were 835 subscribers to the HHAS at the end of the 2025 heat season - a 44% increase since 2024.
Nearly 82% of subscribers worked with people who are highly impacted by heat and planned to share alerts with these populations, and/or personally belonged to one of the populations.
More targeted outreach is needed to specific populations, sectors, and regions of the state. This includes farm and other outdoor workers, non-native English speakers, tribal governments, and other tribal organizations. More on-the-ground efforts are needed in the Northeast NC Region (Region 3). This region had the least number of subscribers to the HHAS but had the highest rate of heat-related illness according to the 2025 Statewide Heat-Related Illness Report.
Recommendations for Improving the Heat Health Alert System
- Increase automation of the system and introduce new ways to send alerts, including text messaging.
- Improve and expand alert messaging content for populations that are at greater risk of heat-related illness.
- Improve targeted outreach to specific populations, sectors and regions
- Farmworkers and other outdoor workers, non-native English speakers, tribal government and other tribal organizations
- Northeast NC Region (3)
- Expand communication and outreach activities so new people learn about and subscribe to the HHAS.
The Climate and Health Program made some of these changes for this 2026 Heat Season, and will continue to make improvements to the HHAS going forward.