The Impact of Climate on the Health of the Nation and the World

A conversation with Dr. John Balbus, Interim Director, Office of Climate Change and Health Equity Climate can have significant impact on human health. 
 
It has been shown that certain diseases flourish in wet environments, and we see that flu season ramps up as we go into winter. But the relationship between climate and health is greater than we think. Wildfires have been shown to increase air pollution, flooding, as has been shown in the recent Hurricane Ian, to cause issues related to clean water and other waterborne diseases. Higher temperatures, particularly in the urban environment, is detrimental to an aging society. We have also experienced how climate change can cause stresses on food production to where a healthy diet is difficult to sustain, particularly in disadvantaged communities in our cities and around the world. The question we ask is what can be done to reduce and even eliminate the impact of climate on our health as well as inequities in solutions we apply.

Our guest, Dr. John Balbus, has been dealing with the health of the nation for many years. He has extensive experience in the connection between climate and health, even serving as the HHS Principal to the U. S. Global Change Research Program. His work connecting the dots between mitigating the impacts of climate and environment on health is known worldwide. We welcome Dr. Balbus to help us better understand the issues and what we can do to help reduce the impacts of climate on health and equity.