Local Health Officials Recognize Threat of Global Warming

The Washington Post, 4/24/08

April 24th article in the Washington Post outlining how public health officials in the United States take the threat of Global Warming seriously, but do not yet have the know-how or resources to combat the problem. Key points include:

• Sixty percent of local health department directors said they believed that consequences of global warming ... would ultimately give rise to one or more serious health problems in their locality over the next 20 years
• 82 percent said they lacked the know-how to plan for such problems, while 77 percent said they needed more resources to improve their ability to do so.
• While half of the directors suggested that climate change is, therefore, an "important priority," less than 20 percent said that the issue is currently among their jurisdiction's "top 10" priorities.
• "There should be a sense of urgency around these issues," National Association of City and County Health Officials spokesman Dr. A Dennis McBride said.

WASHINGTON POST

Local Health Officials Recognize Threat of Global Warming
By Alan Mozes
April 24, 2008

THURSDAY, April 24 (HealthDay News) -- While most public health department officials in the United States take the health threat of global warming seriously, the majority say they aren't prepared to confront the problem, a new survey shows.

Sixty percent of local health department directors said they believed that consequences of global warming -- in the form of heat waves, food and water contamination, increased mosquito-borne illness, and poor air quality -- would ultimately give rise to one or more serious health problems in their locality over the next 20 years.

However, 82 percent said they lacked the know-how to plan for such problems, while 77 percent said they needed more resources to improve their ability to do so.

The survey was co-sponsored by the National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO), the Environmental Defense Fund, and George Mason University in Virginia, and the results were included in a broader report titledAre We Ready? Preparing for the Public Health Challenges of Climate Change. The full report was released Thursday, during a teleconference held by all three organizations.

"While most health directors have programs in existence to protect the public, they still felt they had a long way to go to meet the challenge of climate change," NACCHO spokesman Dr. A. Dennis McBride said during the teleconference. McBride is the director of health for the city of Milford, Conn.

 He was joined at the conference by report lead author Dr. John Balbus, the Environmental Defense Fund's director of environmental health programs, and Ed Maibach, professor and director of George Mason's Center of Excellence in Climate Change Communication Research.

All three focused on the need for local health departments to prepare for climate-associated health perils, such as extreme heat, extreme weather (such as hurricanes, floods and droughts), air pollution, and the spread of water, food, and animal-borne infectious disease.

To read the rest of the story, please CLICK HERE.

Return to Articles »