Politics of public health DATA: Global climate change, public health, and health equity

Our politics of public health data session, titled “THE POLITICS OF PUBLIC HEALTH DATA: GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE, PUBLIC HEALTH, AND HEALTH EQUITY” will spur critical public health thinking and action regarding data and the public health and health equity impacts of global warming, both in the US and elsewhere. Although we recognize that the adverse effects of global climate change on other non-human species (e.g., animals, plants) are critically important and must be addressed in their own right (regardless of their implications for human health), we selected presentations that focus on health inequities among people as linked to the politics and realities of global climate change. At issue is how global climate change can affect human health inequities both directly and also indirectly (e.g., by affecting other animals, plants, and microorganisms in ways that then affect human health and health inequities).