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
- Air Pollution, Climate Change, and Pesticides Are Key Topics for GEOHealth Programs
Global Environmental Health, August 2022
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Climate Change and Health Initiative to Expand Research, Build Resiliency
NIH Director’s blog, July 26, 2022 -
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 News and Resources
Other US Government Resources
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Updated: August 31, 2022