Climate change news, resources and funding for global health researchers

Global climate change is one of the most pressing environmental and public health concerns of the 21st century. Major human health impacts of climate change are anticipated to occur due to associated changes in the environment, such as direct effects from heat, sea level rise, changes in precipitation resulting in flooding and drought, more intense hurricanes and storms, degraded air quality, and increased exposure to toxic environmental pollutants including persistent organic pollutants, metals and pesticides. A better understanding of how climate change will directly and indirectly alter human health is critical to reduce or prevent illness and death.

Building on its decades of work to advance scientific knowledge about how climate change affects human health, in 2022 NIH announced it has established the $100 million Climate Change and Health (CCH) Initiative to significantly scale-up research and action in this critical area. Fogarty has joined with seven NIH institutes and centers (ICs) on the partnership, which is being led by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).

Previously, NIH has studied this issue and in 2010 issued a report, A Human Health Perspective on Climate Change, outlining research needs for eleven categories of consequences of climate change for human health, including asthma and respiratory disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease and stroke, foodborne diseases and nutrition, human developmental effects, mental health and stress-related disorders, neurological diseases, vector-borne and zoonotic diseases, waterborne diseases, and weather-related morbidity and mortality.

Related Fogarty News and Information

Courtesy of USAID in Africa Link, woman and her child stand at the bottom of a basin that used to be the community watering hole near the small town of Aje, Ethiopia

Climate Change Adaptation Case Studies

Fogarty’s Center for Global Health Studies is curating a collection of case studies that will advance research on climate adaptation strategies and their impact on public health.

Find out more about the Climate Change Adaptation Case Studies collection

NIH News and Resources

NIH: Climate Change and Health (CCH) Initiative
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) at NIH:

Climate Change from MedlinePlus

Other US Government Resources

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- CDC Climate and Health Program
- CDC Safe Water System
Health and Human Services (HHS)
- Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE)
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Global Climate Change
- USAID Water and Development Strategy
U.S. Global Change Research Program
U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Program Office
- Heat health explained from the Global Heat Health Information Network
  (NOAA Climate Program Office is a partner)

Other Online Resources

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS): AAAS Climate Change Resources
BUSPH-HSPH Climate Change and Health Research Coordinating Center (CAFE)
- Sign up to join CAFE's climate and health community of practice
Global Heat Health Information Network (GHHIN)
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine: Climate at the National Academies
The World Bank on climate change
World Health Organization (WHO) - Climate Change
- Operational framework for building climate resilient and low carbon health systems
- ClimaHealth global knowledge platform
World Meteorological Organization - Climate
United Nations - Climate Change

Updated: April 1, 2024