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.

Climate and Health Training for Health Departments

CDC’s Climate and Health Program worked with the CDC Foundation and NORC at the University of Chicago to create a climate and health course titled “Climate and Health: A Training for Health Department Personnel.” The course includes sections on climate and health basics, integrating climate and health into health department activities, and tools and examples to help health departments build climate resilience. The training also provides resources for health department personnel to use after completing the training.

Climate and Health Story Maps

CDC has published three story maps that address important climate and health issues. These story maps, provided below, address the use of green spaces to improve health and mitigate climate change, how the Climate-Ready States and Cities Initiative (CRSCI) helps prevent and reduce the health effects of poor air quality, and what CRSCI grant recipients are doing to prepare for and respond to rising temperatures.

• Green Spaces and Human Health
• Climate Adaptation and Ambient Air Quality
• Extreme Heat Adaptation

Climate-Ready States and Cities Initiative Concept Documents

• Climate Change: The Public Health Response
• An Evidence-Based Public Health Approach to Climate Change Adaptation
• 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

BRACE Technical Report Series

• Adaptation Action and Evaluation Plan Template (AAEP) [PDF – 301 KB]
  • Example AAEP: Floodable Park for Stormwater Management Adaptation and Evaluation Plan [PDF – 476 KB]
  • Example AAEP: Home Health Aid Heat Illness Training Module Adaptation and Evaluation Plan [PDF – 301 KB]
• Climate Models and the Use of Climate Projections: A Brief Overview for Health Departments [PDF – 0.58 MB]
• Assessing health vulnerability to climate change: A guide for health departments [PDF – 5.02 MB]
• Projecting Climate-Related Disease Burden: A Guide for Health Departments [PDF – 7.8 MB]
  • Projecting Climate-Related Disease Burden: A Case Study on Methods for Projecting Respiratory Health Impacts [PDF – 3.24 MB]
• Technical Documentation on Exposure-Response Functions for Climate-Sensitive Health Outcomes [PDF – 5.3 MB]
• Climate and Health Intervention Assessment: Evidence on Public Health Interventions to Prevent the Negative Health Effects of Climate Change [PDF – 6.9 MB]
  • Evidence on the use of Integrated Mosquito Management to Reduce the Risk of West Nile Outbreak after a Flooding Event [PDF – 13 MB]
  • The Effectiveness and Implementation of 4-Poster Deer Self-Treatment Devices for Tick-borne Disease Prevention [PDF – 4.3 MB]
  • The Use of Cooling Centers to Prevent Heat-Related Illness: Summary of Evidence and Strategies for Implementation [PDF – 8 MB]
  • Heat Response Plans: Summary of Evidence and Strategies for Collaboration and Implementation [PDF – 14 MB]

Other Guidance

• Communicating the Health Effects of Climate Change [PPT – 25 MB]
• Communicating the Health Effects of Climate Change [PDF – 5 MB]
• Coastal Flooding, Climate Change, and Your Health: What You Can Do to Prepare [PDF – 15 MB]
• Climate Change and Extreme Heat: What You Can Do to Prepare [PDF – 8 MB]
• 12 Steps to Operationalize Climate Change in a Local Health Department [PDF – 182 KB]
• 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
• Heat Exposure and Cardiovascular Health: A Summary for Health Departments [PDF – 7 MB]
• Climate Change and Health Playbook: Adaptation planning for Justice, Equity, and Inclusion