Abstract
Climate change poses significant risks to human health. As a result, public health researchers and practitioners require evidence-based interventions to aid in protecting those who will be impacted by climate change–related exposures. These interventions must not only interrupt the processes resulting in adverse health impacts but also produce knowledge that elucidates the complex mechanisms underlying climate change and health. This chapter aims to frame and operationalize how climate and health interventions can interrupt and characterize these mechanisms while providing urgently needed evidence for more protective health adaptation. We do this by: (1) placing climate and health interventions in the public health and climate adaptation contexts; (2) identifying and broadening the view of those who implement climate and health interventions; (3) describing existing climate and health interventions across numerous spatial and temporal scales; and (4) exploring ways to leverage recent advances in evaluation methods to generate evidence for climate and health interventions. By better defining the field of climate and health interventions, we intend to motivate and mobilize practitioners and researchers in this nascent, but ever-important field.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
US GCRP. Impacts, risks, and adaptation in the United States: fourth national climate assessment. Washington, DC: U.S. Global Change Research Program; 2018.
Field CB, Barros VR, Mastrandrea MD, Mach KJ, Abdrabo MAK, Adger WN, et al. Summary for policy makers: Working group 11 contribution to the fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental panel on climate change; 2014.
Vogel J. Case studies: climate adaptation: the State of Practice in US Communities: Ontario Centre for climate impacts and adaptation resources; 2016.
Leiserowitz A, Maibach E, Rosenthal S, Kotcher J, Bergquist P, Ballew M, Goldberg M, Gustafson A. Climate change in the American mind: April 2019. New Haven: Yale Program on Climate Change Communication; 2019.
Rychetnik L, Frommer M, Hawe P, Shiell A. Criteria for evaluating evidence on public health interventions. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2002;56(2):119–27.
Fortune N, Madden R, Almborg A-H. Use of a new international classification of health interventions for capturing information on health interventions relevant to people with disabilities. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018;15(1):145.
Story M, Kaphingst KM, Robinson-O'Brien R, Glanz K. Creating healthy food and eating environments: policy and environmental approaches. Annu Rev Public Health. 2008;29:253–72.
Gordon RS Jr. An operational classification of disease prevention. Public Health Rep. 1983;98(2):107.
Geller ES, Berry TD, Ludwig TD, Evans RE, Gilmore MR, Clarke SW. A conceptual framework for developing and evaluating behavior change interventions for injury control. Health Educ Res. 1990;5(2):125–37.
Public Health Functions Steering Committee. Public health in America 1994. [cited 2019 April 1]. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/publichealthgateway/publichealthservices/essentialhealthservices.html.
Frieden TR. A framework for public health action: the health impact pyramid. Am J Public Health. 2010;100(4):590–5.
Glasgow RE, Vogt TM, Boles SM. Evaluating the public health impact of health promotion interventions: the RE-AIM framework. Am J Public Health. 1999;89(9):1322–7.
Health MDo. Public health interventions: applications for public health nursing practice. 2019.
Coronado F, Koo D, Gebbie K. The public health workforce: moving forward in the 21st century. Am J Prev Med. 2014;47(5):S275–S7.
Lokker C, McKibbon KA, Colquhoun H, Hempel S. A scoping review of classification schemes of interventions to promote and integrate evidence into practice in healthcare. Implement Sci. 2015;10(1):27.
Gordon LJ. Environmental health and protection: century 21 challenges. J Environ Health. 1995;57(6):28–34.
Biagini B, Bierbaum R, Stults M, Dobardzic S, McNeeley SM. A typology of adaptation actions: a global look at climate adaptation actions financed through the global environment facility. Glob Environ Chang. 2014;25:97–108.
FĂ¼ssel H-M, Klein R, Ebi K. Adaptation assessment for public health. Climate change and adaptation strategies for human health. 2006:41–62.
Smit B, Burton I, Klein RJT, Street R. The science of adaptation: a framework for assessment. Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Chang. 1999;4(3-4):199–213.
Krieger N. Theories for social epidemiology in the 21st century: an ecosocial perspective. Int J Epidemiol. 2001;30(4):668–77.
McMichael AJ. Prisoners of the proximate: loosening the constraints on epidemiology in an age of change. Am J Epidemiol. 1999;149(10):887–97.
Bronfenbrenner U. Ecological systems theory. In: Vasta R, editor. Annals of child development. 6. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers; 1989. p. 187–249.
Marinucci G, Luber G, Uejio C, Saha S, Hess J. Building resilience against climate effects—a novel framework to facilitate climate readiness in public health agencies. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2014;11(6):6433–58.
Rudolph L. Climate change and health: a framework for action. In: Institute PH, editor. ; 2014.
Haines A, Patz JA. Health effects of climate change. (1538-3598 (electronic).
Mercy JA, Rosenberg ML, Powell KE, Broome CV, Roper WL. Public health policy for preventing violence. Health Aff. 1993;12(4):7–29.
Wise RM, Fazey I, Smith MS, Park SE, Eakin HC, Van Garderen ERMA, et al. Reconceptualising adaptation to climate change as part of pathways of change and response. Glob Environ Chang. 2014;28:325–36.
Watts N, Amann M, Ayeb-Karlsson S, Belesova K, Bouley T, Boykoff M, et al. The Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: from 25 years of inaction to a global transformation for public health. Lancet. 2018;391(10120):581–630.
Frumkin H, Hess J, Luber G, Malilay J, McGeehin M. Climate change: the public health response. Am J Public Health. 2008;98(3):435–45.
Mills MA, Edmondson D, Fau - Park CL, Park CL. Trauma and stress response among Hurricane Katrina evacuees. (1541-0048 (Electronic)).
Greenough PG, Kirsch TD. Hurricane Katrina. Public health response--assessing needs. N Engl J Med. 2005;353(15):1544–6.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Injury and illness surveillance in hospitals and acute-care facilities after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita--New Orleans area, Louisiana, September 25-October 15, 2005. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2006;55(2):35–8.
Pina AA, Villalta IK, Ortiz CD, Gottschall AC, Costa NM, Weems CF. Social support, discrimination, and coping as predictors of posttraumatic stress reactions in youth survivors of Hurricane Katrina. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2008;37(3):564–74.
Fussell E, Lowe SR. The impact of housing displacement on the mental health of low-income parents after Hurricane Katrina. Soc Sci Med. 2014;113:137–44.
Harlan SL, Brazel AJ, Prashad L, Stefanov WL, Larsen L. Neighborhood microclimates and vulnerability to heat stress. Soc Sci Med. 2006;63(11):2847–63.
Donovan GH, Michael YL, Gatziolis D, Prestemon JP, Whitsel EA. Is tree loss associated with cardiovascular-disease risk in the Women's Health Initiative? A natural experiment. Health Place. 2015;36:1–7.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Climate and Health Program (CHP) Atlanta, GA, 2020. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/climateandhealth/default.htm.
EcoAdapt. Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange (CAKE) 2020. Available from: https://www.cakex.org/.
The Medical Society Consortium on Cilmate and Health. Geoge Mason University; 2020. Available from: https://medsocietiesforclimatehealth.org/.
Anderson HBC, Cameron LL, Christenson M, Conlon KC, Dorevitch S, Dumas J, Eidson M,, Ferguson A GE, Hanson A, Hess JJ, Hoppe B, Horton J, Jagger M, Krueger S, Largo TW, Losurdo GM, Mack SR,, Moran C MC, Raab K, Saha S, Schramm PJ, Shipp-Hilts A, Smith SJ, Thelen M, Thie L, Walker R. BRACE Midwest, Practice. aSCo. Climate and health intervention assessment: evidence on public health interventions to prevent the negative health effects of climate change. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Climate and Health Program; 2017. p. https://www.cdc.gov/climateandhealth/docs/ClimateAndHealthInterventionAssessment_508.pdf.
Maricopa Association of Governments. Heat Relief Regional Network 2020. [Available from: https://azmag.gov/Programs/Homelessness/Heat-Relief-Regional-Network.
Marsh D, Husein K, Lobo M, Shah MA, Luby S. Verbal autopsy in Karachi slums: comparing single and multiple cause of child deaths. Health Policy Plan. 1995;10(4):395–403.
Gruber JS, Ercumen A, Colford JM Jr. Coliform bacteria as indicators of diarrheal risk in household drinking water: systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One. 2014;9(9):e107429.
Yousuf FA, Siddiqui R, Khan NA. Survey of gram negative and gram positive bacteria in drinking water supplies in Karachi, Pakistan. Microbiol Res J Int. 2014;4:592–7.
Nygren BL, O'Reilly CE, Rajasingham A, Omore R, Ombok M, Awuor AO, et al. The relationship between distance to water source and moderate-to-severe diarrhea in the global enterics multi-center study in Kenya, 2008–2011. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2016;94(5):1143–9.
Rauf S, Bakhsh K, Hassan S, Nadeem AM, Kamran MA. Determinants of a household’s choice of drinking water source in Punjab, Pakistan. Pol J Environ Stud. 2015;24(6):2751–4.
Burr ML, Davis AR, Zbijowski AG. Diarrhoea and the drought. Public Health. 1978;92(2):86–7.
Whitworth KL, Baldwin DS, Kerr JL. Drought, floods and water quality: drivers of a severe hypoxic blackwater event in a major river system (the southern Murray–Darling Basin, Australia). J Hydrol. 2012;450:190–8.
Hanif M, Khan AH, Adnan S. Latitudinal precipitation characteristics and trends in Pakistan. J Hydrol. 2013;492:266–72.
Sadiq N, Qureshi MS. Climatic variability and linear trend models for the five major cities of Pakistan. J Geograph Geol. 2010;2(1):83.
Luby SP, Agboatwalla M, Painter J, Altaf A, Billhimer W, Keswick B, et al. Combining drinking water treatment and hand washing for diarrhoea prevention, a cluster randomised controlled trial. Tropical Med Int Health. 2006;11(4):479–89.
Dilling L, Daly ME, Kenney DA, Klein R, Miller K, Ray AJ, et al. Drought in urban water systems: learning lessons for climate adaptive capacity. Clim Risk Manag. 2019;23:32–42.
Bours D, McGinn C, Pringle P. Monitoring & evaluation for climate change adaptation and resilience: a synthesis of tools, frameworks and approaches. 2nd ed. Oxford: SEA Change CoP, Phnom Penh, UKCIP; 2014.
Vanos J, Vecellio DJ, Kjellstrom T. Workplace heat exposure, health protection, and economic impacts: a case study in Canada. Am J Ind Med. 2019;62(12):1024–37.
Dinshaw A, Fisher S, McGray H, Rai N, Schaar J. Monitoring and evaluation of climate change adaptation. Paris: OECD Publishing; 2014.
Adger WN, Arnell NW, Tompkins EL. Successful adaptation to climate change across scales. Glob Environ Chang. 2005;15(2):77–86.
Dilling L, Prakash A, Zommers Z, Ahmad F, Singh N, de Wit S, et al. Is adaptation success a flawed concept? Nat Clim Chang. 2019;9(8):572–4.
Jones L. Resilience isn't the same for all: comparing subjective and objective approaches to resilience measurement. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Clim Chang. 2019;10(1):e552.
Brooks N, Anderson S, Burton I, Fisher S, Rai, Tellam I. An operational framework for Tracking. Adaptation and Measuring Development (TAMD). IIED Climate Change Working Paper No. 5. London, UK. 2013.
Daze A, Ambrose K, Ehrhart C. Climate vulnerability and capacity analysis handbook. CARE International. Atlanta, GA. 2009.
Striessnig E, Lutz W, Patt A. Effects of educational attainment on climate risk vulnerability. Ecol Soc. 2013;18(1):16.
Bryan E, Ringler C, Okoba B, Roncoli C, Silvestri S, Herrero M. Adapting agriculture to climate change in Kenya: household strategies and determinants. J Environ Manag. 2013;114:26–35.
Fisher S, Dinshaw A, McGray H, Rai N, Schaar J. Evaluating climate change adaptation: learning from methods in international development. N Dir Eval. 2015;2015(147):13–35.
Pahl-Wostl C. Participative and stakeholder-based policy design, evaluation and modeling processes. Integr Assess. 2002;3(1):3–14.
Gullison R, Hardner J. Using limiting factors analysis to overcome the problem of long time horizons. N Dir Eval. 2009;2009(122):19–29.
Bierbaum R, Smith JB, Lee A, Blair M, Carter L, Chapin FS, et al. A comprehensive review of climate adaptation in the United States: more than before, but less than needed. Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Chang. 2013;18(3):361–406.
Kates RW, Travis WR, Wilbanks TJ. Transformational adaptation when incremental adaptations to climate change are insufficient. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 2012;109(19):7156.
Drawdown HP. The most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming: New York, NY: Penguin; 2017.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Conlon, K.C., Austin, C.M. (2021). Climate Change and Public Health Interventions. In: Pinkerton, K.E., Rom, W.N. (eds) Climate Change and Global Public Health. Respiratory Medicine. Humana, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54746-2_27
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54746-2_27
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-54745-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-54746-2
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)