Transcript Climate Change and Human Health

Climate Change and Human Health:
Mine the gaps
John M. Balbus, MD, MPH
Senior Advisor for Public Health
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
UK-US Climate Meeting
Atlanta, GA
February 7, 2014
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Potential Health Effects of Climate Variability and
Change
Haines,
A. etrestrictions
al. JAMA
2004;291:99-103.
Copyright
may apply.
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and Human
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Climate
Change
Health
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Draft National Climate Assessment Key Messages –
Human Health
1. Climate change threatens human health – impacts already
underway in the U.S.
2. Climate change will amplify existing health threats the nation
faces, esp. for vulnerable communities & people.
3. Preparedness & prevention can protect people from some of
these impacts; early action is most beneficial, because our
ability to adapt to increasing threats may be limited in future.
4. Responding to climate change provides opportunities to
improve health and well-being in sectors including energy,
agriculture, and transportation; in ways that can protect
people, combat climate change, and provide other benefits.
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Key Health Threats
• Multiple Climate Stressors & Health
– Climate change impacts add to the cumulative stresses currently faced by
vulnerable populations:
• Societal System Failures During Extreme Events
– Multiple system failures can occur during extreme weather events
• Large-Scale Environmental Change Favors Disease
Emergence
– Factors include shifting pest ranges, lack of immunity & preparedness,
inadequate monitoring.
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What are some of the questions “health folks” ask?
• How often/where will
temperatures exceed health
thresholds?
• How extreme will weather be
in my area?
• What climate change and/or
extreme weather threats face
my facilities?
• How will CC-related
ecosystem and human system
changes affect my patients
• How will CC-related changes
affect the essentials of health
and well-being, like food and
shelter?
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What kinds of climate and other earth observations
data help answer those questions?
• Future Averages and Extremes
– Daily min and max temperature
– Total precipitation per season
– Length of freeze-free periods, droughts
– Temperatures of hottest 1,3,5 day periods, etc.
– Soil moisture, vegetative cover
• Future Variability
– Annual and seasonal range of daily max and min temps, rainfall events,
extreme events
• Threshold Exceedance
– # and frequency of record-breaking seasons (hot summers, wet winters, etc.)
– # of days/nights above set thresholds (e.g., days above 90, nights above 75)
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What are the “gaps”?
• Knowledge Gap- historically inadequate investment in
CCHH research means we don’t know the best climate
and weather parameters
• Temporal Gap- public health programs operate on
emergency to annual time scales
• Spatial Scale Gap- public health often operates on
neighborhood spatial scale- microclimates are critical
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Additional Challenges for Climate Change and Human
Health Data Mining
• Paucity of health data– Privacy issues complicate providing geospatial resolution
– Fragmentation of US health system; private/local sources
richest
• Large number of disciplines involved
– Difficulty with data integration
– Differing terminology, etc.
– Limited research investment=limited research community
• Identifying and accessing data sources
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(REUTERS/Mario
Anzuoni)
CCHHG Membership
Co-chairs:
• National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Representatives:
• Department of Defense (DOD)
• Department of State (DOS)
• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
• National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)
• National Science Foundation (NSF)
• U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
• U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
• U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
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CCHHG Workstreams
• Adaptation – support for the Interagency Climate Change
Adaptation Task Force
• Assessment and Indicators – technical input, stakeholder
engagement, and sustained assessment activities for the
National Climate Assessment
• Communication, Education, and Engagement – coordination
with USGCRP on outreach to public health stakeholders
• Data Integration – development of Metadata Access Tool for
Climate and Health (MATCH)
• International – review of international adaptation plans and
assessments, and engagement with global health community
• Joint Research and Application – development of a climate
change & human health research application community
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Match.globalchange.gov
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US Interim Assessment Report on Human Health
• More detailed assessment of existing climate and health research than was
possible in the most recent draft NCA.
• Strong focus on quantifying impacts, and opportunities for public engagement
and review
• During a Scoping Workshop held in November, CCHHG agencies agreed to
focus on quantifying national-scale impacts in four areas:
•
•
•
•
•
Extreme Heat
Air Quality
Vectorborne Disease (Lyme)
Waterborne Disease (Vibrio)
Advancing the science to foster development of datasets, models, scenarios
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1. Forecasting
Climate Impacts
and Assessing
Vulnerabilities
Building
Resilience
Against
Climate
Effects
5. Evaluating
Impact and
Improving Quality of
Activities
4. Developing and
Implementing a
Climate and Health
Adaptation Plan
2. Projecting the
Disease Burden
3. Assessing
Public Health
Interventions
Climate and Health Program, National Center for Environmental Health
Conclusions
• Climate change and health field is still in early days
• Challenges related to scales, disciplinary boundaries,
data privacy concerns, etc.
• Opportunities now for advancing the science through
development of models and conduct of assessments
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Thank you!
http://www.niehs.nih.gov/geh
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