Register at www.ametsoc.org/cb
While weather extremes, melting glaciers, and crop failures dominate the
public discourse on global warming, human health risks from climate
change are of growing concern to both the public and health
professionals. This briefing will provide an overview of these health
risks and health system responses.
Speakers
- Rita Colwell, Ph.D. Distinguished University Professor both at the
University of Maryland at College Park and at Johns Hopkins University
Bloomberg School of Public Health, Senior Advisor and Chairman
Emeritus, Canon US Life Sciences, Inc., and President and
CEO of CosmosID, Inc.
- Howard Frumkin, M.D., Dr.P.H. Special Assistant to the Director for
Climate Change and Health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention
- Jonathan Patz, MD, MPH. Professor & Director
of Global Environmental Health at the University of Wisconsin in
Madison
Moderator
- Paul Higgins, Ph.D. Senior Policy Fellow, American Meteorological
Society
First, Dr. Rita Colwell (University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins School
of Public Health) will review major health threats, including heat
waves, weather and hydrologic extremes, reduced air quality, rising
allergen exposures, infectious diseases, reduced agricultural output,
mental health consequences, and civil disruption such as population
displacement. She will draw particularly on her research on infectious
diseases, including both vector-borne diseases (e.g. malaria, plague,
and many viral diseases) and water-borne diseases (e.g. cholera),
explaining recent scientific advances in understanding the links between
environmental change and disease risk.
Second, Dr. Howard Frumkin (CDC) will discuss the public health response
to these threats, drawing on a framework developed at
CDC and now being implemented at the Federal,
state, and local levels. This response involves longstanding core public
health activities, such as disease surveillance, outbreak
investigations, vulnerability assessments, health communication, and
preparedness planning. He will also emphasize the importance of
assessing the health consequences of mitigation strategies, so
decision-makers can choose the most health-protective approaches.
Finally, Dr, Jonathan Patz (University of Wisconsin) will introduce the
concept of co-benefits, a key strategy in both addressing climate change
and promoting health. For example, transportation strategies that reduce
travel demand and favor walking, bicycling, and transit over
automobiles, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote physical
activity as well as improve air quality. The net result is a steep drop
in cardiovascular disease, cancer, asthma and other ailments. Dr. Patz
will cite recent analyses in the US suggesting that climate change
mitigation could offer a substantial opportunity to improve the health
of the public and save billions of dollars in healthcare costs and
worker productivity.
American Geophysical Union
American Meteorological Society
210 Cannon
02/05/2010 at 11:00AM