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 [PDF, 4Mb], 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. At the same time, NIH developed the Climate Change and Health: Assessing and Modeling Population Vulnerability to Climate Change program specifically devoted to climate change research and awarded an initial round of grants.

Recent News

• A systematic review of household energy transition in low and middle income countries , co-authored by Fogarty's Joshua Rosenthal
  Energy Research and Social Science, April 2022
  
• Virtual Event: Advancing Environmental Health Equity Through Implementation Science
  Hosted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
  February 28–March 1, 2022
• Climate change spurs big new plan for health research
  Environmental Factor from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), January 2022
• First global river database documents 40 years of changes
  U.S. National Science Foundation, November 23, 2021
• HHS Establishes Office of Climate Change and Health Equity
  HHS news release, August 30, 2021

Related Fogarty News and Information

• NIH unveils framework for climate change initiative
  Jan / Feb 2022 Global Health Matters
• Lancet study details growing health impacts of climate
  Nov / Dec 2021 Global Health Matters
• GEOHealth hub studies climate change in East Africa
  Sep / Oct 2021 Global Health Matters
• Water insecurity can disrupt exclusive breastfeeding
  May / June 2021 Global Health Matters
• NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) explores global environmental change and health
  Jul / Aug 2020 Global Health Matters
• The 2019 report of The Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: ensuring that the health of a child born today is not defined by a changing climate
  The Lancet, November 16, 2019
• Heatwaves: urgent action needed to tackle climate change’s “silent killer”
  International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies news, July 16, 2019
• Belmont Forum advances international collaboration on climate and health research
  NIEHS/NIH Global Environmental Health Newsletter, December 2018
• Researchers help prevent heat-related deaths in India
  Mar / Apr 2016 Global Health Matters
• Focus on water and its impact on global health
  Jan / Feb 2013 Global Health Matters
• Water poses complex issues for global health scientists
• An international research collaboration develops clay water filters to reduce diarrheal disease
• Searching for causes of Buruli ulcers in Ghana
• Uruguay herbicide test spurs regional interest
• Identifying leptospirosis and saving patients
• Examining the connections between climate change and diarrheal disease
  Fogarty news, October 6, 2011
• Trans-NIH group assesses response to climate change
  Jan / Feb 2010 Global Health Matters
• Unified NIH research agenda on climate change sought
  Sep / Oct 2008 Global Health Matters

NIH News and Resources

• NIH: Climate Change and Health (CCH) Initiative
• National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) at NIH:
• NIEHS: Climate and Human Health
• NIEHS: Climate Change and Human Health Literature database
  
• 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
• 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
• World Meteorological Organization - Climate
  
• United Nations - Climate Change

Updated: April 29, 2022