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 16 states and 2 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.

CDC’s BRACE framework provides guidance to states and cities to develop strategies and programs to confront the health implications of climate change. In approaching the health implications of climate change it is of paramount importance to find ways to understand and incorporate complex atmospheric data and both short and long range climate projections into public health planning and response activities. Coupling atmospheric data and projections with epidemiologic analysis enables a jurisdiction to more effectively anticipate, prepare for and respond to a range of climate sensitive health impacts.

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