Building resilience to cope with heat waves and extreme weather events in the Republic of North Macedonia

High ambient temperatures have a significant impact on society and population health, including a rise in morbidity and mortality. Episodes of heat lasting for several days are often referred to as heat waves and can be associated with tens of thousands of premature deaths. In the Republic of North Macedonia, the most striking weather anomaly was in 2007, when the national government declared a nationwide heat-wave emergency. The content of this inspirational example outlines a wide range of coordinated actions at community and system levels to adapt, anticipate and manage the many problems caused by heat waves. Theexample shows the need of intersectional action to build adaptive, absorptive, anticipatory and transformative resilience capacity in both communities and institutions in order to effectively fight against the harmful health effects of heat waves. There were several heat waves in the country during 2007-2023 and public health activities to prevent and minimize adverse health effects.