The World Health Organization has identified climate change as “the single biggest health threat facing humanity,” resulting in a myriad of adverse effects on human health and global health systems. As temperatures rise around the globe, the world is seeing an increase in climate-related events that result not only in infrastructure and environmental damage, but also outbreaks of communicable and noncommunicable diseases across immediate and long-term time-scales.
Heat waves and rainstorms are becoming more deadly, disease outbreaks last longer and are seen in new regions, wildfire smoke from tinder-dry forests reduces air quality, and food and water security are threatened by extreme weather. A recent study published in Nature showed that warming temperatures are significantly impacting animal habitats, forcing them to migrate to new areas and subsequently increasing the potential for new hotspots for vector-borne and zoonotic diseases.
These realities call for more health professionals trained in detecting and responding to climate-related health threats. TEPHINET, in partnership with the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education, the International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI), the UK Health Security Agency, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recently formed a working group to improve training and awareness on climate and health for field epidemiologists to address this need. The TEPHINET Climate and Health Working Group aims to sensitize Field Epidemiology Training Programs (FETPs), and FETP residents and graduates, to issues surrounding climate and health, increase awareness of available climate and health training and resources, and eventually integrate climate and health into the FETP curriculum and core competencies.
During a question and answer session with working group members, Cecilia Sorensen, Director of the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education, stated, “Climate change has been called a code red for humanity. We're seeing impacts happening all over the world on almost a weekly, even daily basis; and when we think about what type of health professional is needed to recognize and respond to the types of changes in disease dynamics [caused by climate change], we really think about the frontline field epidemiology workers.”
