CDC's Climate-Ready States & Cities Initiative

As the nation's public health agency, CDC is using its prevention expertise to help state and city health departments investigate, prepare for, and respond to the health effects that climate change may have on people. The world’s climate is showing signs of a shift. The world is becoming warmer, with more precipitation and weather extremes. Potential effects of this climate change are likely to include more variable weather. Stronger and longer heat waves, more frequent extreme weather events such as flooding and tropical cyclones, rises in sea level, and increased air pollution will become more the rule than the exception. CDC is helping state and city health departments address and prepare for the health effects related to climate change. CDC approaches this challenge in the same way it prepares for the possibilities of bioterrorism and pandemic influenza.

CDC’s Climate-Ready States and Cities Initiative is helping 10 states and cities develop ways to anticipate these health effects by applying climate science, predicting health impacts, and preparing flexible programs. CDC will help states and cities partner with local and national climate scientists to understand the potential climate changes in their areas. CDC will assist states and cities in developing and using models to predict health impacts, to monitor health effects, and to identify the area’s most vulnerable to these effects.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded $5.25 million to ten health departments to assess threats, make plans and develop programs to meet the public health challenges of climate change over the next three years.

CDC’s Climate Ready States and Cities Initiative will build the capacity of state and city health departments to address the public health consequences of climate change and its implications on human health. State and city health departments are currently funded in two categories:

Category 1 – Assessment and Planning to Develop Climate Change Programs

These health departments will measure the current capacity of its respective jurisdictions to confront both acute and long-term ramifications of climate change utilizing the 10 Essential Public Health Services (EPHS) as a framework. These agencies will conduct comprehensive needs assessments, gap analyses; and create strategic plans to address the human health consequences of climate change.

Category 2 – Building Capacity to Implement Climate Change Programs and Adaptations

These health departments will develop strategies for conducting health impact assessments to determine the effects of climate change on human health and vulnerable populations. These health departments are funded to increase the capacity of state and local public health agencies to develop and implement action plans to prepare for, and respond to the health impacts of climate change, and to implement public health adaptations to address geographically specific health impacts of climate change.

Technical Assistance

Assessment and Planning to Develop Climate Change Programs

Building Capacity to Implement Climate Change Programs and Adaptations

For more information on CDC's Climate-Ready States & Cities Initiative please feel free to send an e-mail to: climateandhealth@cdc.gov

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