Paul J. Schramm

Public health and climate change adaptation at the federal level: one agency's response to Executive Order 13514.

Climate change will likely have adverse human health effects that require federal agency involvement in adaptation activities. In 2009, President Obama issued Executive Order 13514, Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance. The order required federal agencies to develop and implement climate change adaptation plans. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of a larger Department of Health and Human Services response to climate change, is developing such plans. We provide background on Executive Orders, outline tenets of climate change adaptation, discuss public health adaptation planning at both the Department of Health and Human Services and the CDC, and outline possible future CDC efforts. We also consider how these activities may be better integrated with other adaptation activities that manage emerging health threats posed by climate change.

Management of Climate Change Adaptation at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

As the nation’s public health agency, CDC recognizes that climate change poses a multifaceted and potentially significant threat to domestic public health. To facilitate climate change preparedness in public health, the agency developed the Climate and Health Program, which is housed in the National Center for Environmental Health. The Program’s mission is to translate science for public health partners, develop decision support tools to facilitate climate change adaptation in public health, and to serve as a credible leader in planning for the human health impacts of a changing climate. Since its formation, the Program has worked to articulate a public health approach to climate change and integrate science from public health and other sectors to facilitate public health adaptation efforts. The Program has developed an adaptive management framework for public health, the BRACE framework, and is working cooperatively with several state and local health departments to pursue an evidence-based approach to climate change adaptation. As public health’s expertise and experience grows, the Climate and Health Program will work to continue disseminating relevant information for the increasing number of public health practitioners focused on reducing the adverse health effects of climate change.