Publications and Other Resources
Data & Tools
The 500 Cities Project, a production of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, published an interactive web application in March. The program allows users to view health data for 500 cities and neighborhoods around the U.S. to visualize chronic disease measures and risk factors. The data is available so public health professionals can target interventions for specific areas that need them most. For more information, visit
CDC Environmental Public Health Tracking Network (Climate Portal) uses data from many sources to track the effects of climate change. While there are a number of indicators related to climate change, the Tracking Network is focusing on extreme heat to better evaluate the number of heat-related deaths at the national level, while allowing for comparisons across states. These comparisons can help local communities design interventions and better understand the possible health effects and risks to specific groups of people.
CDC Extreme Heat Media Toolkit provides easily accessible media resources for members of the public, local health departments, and other organizations, assisting ongoing outreach efforts to those most vulnerable to extreme heat events.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin in March released the 2017 County Health Rankings Toolkit, allowing public health professionals to help counties take action to improve health outcomes. This year’s data include common points of interest such as child poverty, income inequality, access to dentists and primary care physicians, preventable hospital stays, access to healthy foods and environmental factors. The spotlight for 2017 is an analysis of recent rises in premature deaths.
US Government Open Data – Climate has data related to climate change that can help inform and prepare America’s communities, businesses, and citizens. Initially, in this pilot phase, you can find data and resources related to coastal flooding, food resilience, water and ecosystem vulnerability. Over time, you will be able to find additional data and tools relevant to other important climate-related impacts, including risks to human health, and energy infrastructure. Please share your feedback.
The Colorado School of Public Health Rocky Mountain Public Health Training Center in March released “21st Century Oil & Gas & Public Health,” an online training toolkit. Public health professionals can use the resource to learn about the process of shale oil development and its impact on public health, or use it as a companion to the “Community Health and Shale Development Guidebook.” The toolkit allows users to access topics of interest or take the full course and receive a certificate of completion.
US Climate Resilience Toolkit provides resources and a framework for understanding and addressing the climate issues that impact people and their communities.
USGCRP Metadata Access Tool for Climate and Health (MATCH) is a publicly accessible, online tool for researchers that offers centralized access to metadata ‐ standardized contextual information ‐ about thousands of government-held datasets related to health, the environment, and climate-science. MATCH is one of a growing number of tools, driven by open data, that are being made available by the Obama Administration as fuel for innovation, ideas, and insights ‐ in this case, at the important intersection of climate and human health.
Academic Publications and Presentations
Working with Climate Projections to Estimate Disease Burden: Perspectives from Public Health - There is interest among agencies and public health practitioners in the United States (USA) to estimate the future burden of climate-related health outcomes. Calculating disease burden projections can be especially daunting, given the complexities of climate modeling and the multiple pathways by which climate influences public health. Interdisciplinary coordination between public health practitioners and climate scientists is necessary for scientifically derived estimates. We describe a unique partnership of state and regional climate scientists and public health practitioners assembled by the Florida Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) program. We provide a background on climate modeling and projections that has been developed specifically for public health practitioners, describe methodologies for combining climate and health data to project disease burden, and demonstrate three examples of this process used in Florida.
CDC Guidance and Trainings
One goal of the climate change program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is helping to develop a national public health workforce that can research and address the effects of climate change on human health. This includes workforce development within CDC as well as external development through training, research funding, fellowships, internships, and partnerships with diverse stakeholders. An educated workforce will help to ensure the capacity exists within the public health sector to research and address the anticipated health impacts of climate change. Below are descriptions and specific examples of some of the mechanisms CDC’s Climate and Health Program is using to promote this goal.
CDC Climate-Ready States and Cities Initiative Concept Documents
- Climate Change: The Public Health Response
- An Evidence-Based Public Health Approach to Climate Change Adaptation [PDF – 195 KB]
- Integrating Climate Change Adaptation into Public Health Practice: Using Adaptive Management to Increase Adaptive Capacity and Build Resilience
- Building Resilience against Climate Effects—A Novel Framework to Facilitate Climate Readiness in Public Health Agencies
CDC BRACE Technical Report Series
- Climate Models and the Use of Climate Projections: A Brief Overview for Health Departments [PDF – 1.50 MB]
- Assessing health vulnerability to climate change: A guide for health departments [PDF – 4.35 MB]
- Projecting Climate-Related Disease Burden: A Guide for Health Departments [PDF – 2.96 MB]
- Projecting Climate-Related Disease Burden: A Case Study on Methods for Projecting Respiratory Health Impacts [PDF – 3.74 MB]
- Technical Documentation on Exposure-Response Functions for Climate-Sensitive Health Outcomes [PDF – 4.7 MB]
- Climate and Health Intervention Assessment: Evidence on Public Health Interventions to Prevent the Negative Health Effects of Climate Change [PDF – 6.9 MB]
- The Effectiveness and Implementation of 4-Poster Deer Self-Treatment Devices for Tick-borne Disease Prevention [PDF – 4.7 MB]
Other Guidance from the CDC
- Climate Change and Extreme Heat: What You Can Do to Prepare [PDF – 8 MB]
- National Climate Assessment Health Sector Bibliography
- 12 Steps to Operationalize Climate Change in a Local Health Department
- Recognizing, Preventing and Treating Heat-Related Illness: An e-learning course
- Climate Change and Extreme Heat Events Guidance [PDF – 3.33 MB]
- Extreme Heat and Your Health
- CDC Extreme Heat Media Toolkit
CDC Climate and Health Program
These documents were developed by the CDC Climate and Health Program, in collaboration with the APHA, as an overview of how different aspects of climate change can impact human health. Each document explains the climate-health connection of each threat, as well as actions that can be taken to prepare for future climate change and steps to safeguard public health.
- How Extreme Heat Can Impact Our Health
- Extreme Rainfall and Drought Impacts Human Health
- Climate Change Increases Disease-Carrying Insects and Ticks
- Warmer Water and Flooding Increase the Risk of Illness and Injury
APHA and CDC Webinars
APHA and CDC Climate and Health Webinars present public health leaders’ accomplishments, challenges and promising opportunities around climate change and public health policy and practice. These webinars provide assistance to state and local health departments to conduct analytic and programmatic activities aimed at reducing the health consequences of climate change and variability, and to develop public health adaptation strategies. Below are some materials produced by the CDC. Source: CDC website.
- A Look at the Health Costs of Climate Change and Co-Benefits of Climate Action
- An Overview of Climate Change Science and Impacts to Human Health
- A Look at U.S. Regional Impacts of Climate Change on Health
- The Public Health Role in Climate Change Communication and Effective Messaging Strategy
- An Eye Toward Public Health Adaptation Strategy
- Looking Ahead: Advancing the Public Health Response to Climate Change
For additional "climate and health" publications, visit: https://www.cdc.gov/climateandhealth/publications.htm