Climate change is considered by many public health professionals, the greatest threat to humanity. How are we, public health practitioners, educating future generations of professionals to mitigate or adapt? The purpose of this content analysis is to analyze publicly available information for potential students to assess climate change education within CePH accredited MPH programs. Methods: We examined all CePH accredited programs (listed on their website) for classes that contained climate change. We considered if climate change was part of an existing course or if a concentration was offered through specific courses. We also considered if degrees that focused on climate change were offered through different programs in that university. Results: Based upon publicly available information, no school offered an MPH with a concentration in climate change. One school offered an 18-week certificate program, but it was not part of the MPH degree. The majority of schools incorporated at least one lesson through the environmental/occupational health foundational course. Global Health courses often discussed climate change but in the context of that subject. In almost all of the schools, climate change was taught in other graduate programs (sustainability, urban affairs, geography, geosciences), but was not cross-listed for the public health program. Implications: Public health practitioners are not training the workforce for climate change. This lack of specific training will be detrimental in designing mitigation or adaption approaches for agencies and organizations. To create the healthiest nation, we need to use accepted science and train future practitioners about climate change and potential strategies.

Climate change has direct impacts on the health of communities. Recognizing that infants, children, and pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to the health impacts of climate change, a local health department’s Healthy Environments program and family health program launched an innovative collaboration to promote family resiliency.

The Healthy Environment program developed community vulnerability maps for climate-related health impacts and educational materials for community residents about the impacts of climate change on health. As trusted community messengers, the family health programs’s home visitors and CHWs are uniquely positioned to deliver these messages to the community during their regular community outreach and through targeted door-to-door campaigns. The home visiting program augmented its existing educational curriculum to incorporate tools and resources to help families respond to climate change impacts. For example, during the summer the program educates all families on the dangers of extreme heat and provides cooling items like water bottles and portable fans. The programs also collaborated on emergency preparedness planning to ensure the department was prepared to respond to the needs of families in the result of a climate-change related disaster.

This existing collaboration was a crucial factor in the department’s ability to swiftly implement a comprehensive response to the Zika virus including targeted outreach to neighborhoods where families experienced increased exposure to vectors due to lack of A/C conditioning and poor screening in sub-standard housing. Family health staff provided education on mosquito bite prevention and connected families with resources to fortify their homes against mosquitos.

With significant health messages contained in all of its regional chapters and nine of its topical chapters, the 4th US National Climate Assessment (NCA4) broke new ground in scientific assessments of the health aspects of climate change. NCA4 not only updates the comprehensive review of health impacts and population vulnerability contained in the 2016 Report on the "Impacts of Climate Change on Health in the United States", it also features topics not addressed in the 2016 report. For example, NCA4 incorporates risk framing and provides economic estimates of impacts and the costs of inaction on climate change. It also reviews scientific literature on adaptation measures for health impacts, as well as the role of the health sector in addressing climate change. Health benefits resulting from measures that reduce air pollution and urban temperatures as part of climate mitigation actions are also highlighted. This presentation will present the key health messages from NCA4 and place them in the context of other major reports and assessments of climate and health that were released in 2018.

The prevalence of Allergic Airway Disease (AAD) is growing globally, resulting in increased numbers of emergency department visits and hospitalizations. Clinical studies show that AAD can be exacerbated by the synergistic action of aeroallergens such as pollen and spores, and atmospheric pollutants such as ozone. Earlier studies, involving data from nationwide observations of airborne pollen counts of selected plant species in conjunction with climatic factors, indicated that the start date and length of pollen season, the average peak value, and the annual total of daily airborne pollen counts have been affected by the changing climate. The present study investigates changes of pollen indices (Start Date, Season Length, etc.) and ozone indices (Peak Value, Exceedances of Air Quality Standards, etc.) during 1994-2010 in the nine climate regions of the contiguous United States (ConUS). The associations between these indices were explored using correlation chord plots, simple/multiple linear regression, and linear mixed effects model. Analyses of observed pollen counts and ozone concentrations at the locations of 58 pollen monitor stations were conducted. It is found that there is significant positive association between ragweed pollen season length and ozone peak value in six of the nine ConUS climate regions. Furthermore, concentrations of pollens during a base year (2004) and a future year (2047) were simulated with a customized version of CMAQ (the Community Multiscale Air Quality model) employing a grid with 36 km by 36 km horizontal resolution, while corresponding ozone concentrations at the same resolution for the above base and future years were estimated by a multi-university/agency consortium including USEPA. This study employed spatiotemporal correlation analysis to examine patterns of past and future co-occurring ozone and pollen concentrations; the outcomes of this analysis provide information that can support development of strategies for managing health-impacts of exposures to co-occurring photochemical pollutants and aeroallergens.

The Lancet Countdown: Tracking Progress on Health and Climate Change is a global, interdisciplinary research initiative that monitors the world’s response to climate change and tracks health outcomes. An annual report describes the current evidence on a range of indicators in five thematic groups: 1) Climate Change Impacts, Exposures and Vulnerabilities 2) Adaptation Planning and Resilience for Health 3) Mitigation Actions and Health Co-Benefits 4) Economics and Finance 5) Public and Political Engagement. To complement this publication and allow direct application to countries, the Lancet Countdown published a suite of 11 national policy briefs in 2018 that utilized country-specific data for the most nationally relevant indicators.

The 2018 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change Brief for the United States (U.S.), which was co-branded by the American Public Health Association, was released in November. It was supported by a working group of over 40 advisors from 25 different organizations. In addition to the U.S. specific Lancet Countdown indicator data, it highlighted key U.S. specific climate and health data and research and provided recommendations tailored to be actionable within the current policy environment.

This presentation will present the main findings from the 2018 Brief, and provide a preview of the forthcoming 2019 Brief, and place it in the context of the 2018 global Lancet Countdown report. There will be a focus on the health indicators and data related to equity given climate change disproportionately impacts vulnerable individuals and communities. In addition, the policy relevant mitigation and adaptation recommendations will be highlighted, as well as those related to community resilience and preparedness.

Climate change has been identified as both a challenge and an opportunity for public health. At the center of these perspectives is the capacity of the public health workforce in recognizing, mitigating, addressing, and managing the health impacts of climate change. The onus to prepare the next generation of public health practitioners lies heavily on academia; in particular, schools and programs of public health. This project evaluated course offerings and syllabi listed in online course catalogs from 90 nationally accredited schools of public health with the purpose of identifying the extent of climate change education in graduate programs of public health.

Course syllabi of available climate-change focused courses were evaluated for content, level of learning and engagement (using Bloom’s revised taxonomy) and aligned with the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education (GCCHE) Core Climate & Health Competencies for Health Professionals.

Approximately 50% of accredited schools of public health offer a focused graduate course that reviews the health implications of climate change (n =44). These courses cover a wide array of topics with an emphasis on conveying the fundamental knowledge of climate change. In depth assessment revealed a need for integrating learning opportunities that build practical skills useful in a hands-on public health practice environment.

An educational framework was developed from these findings to propose strategies to enhance both knowledge and skills in managing and addressing the health impacts of climate change. This framework considers the diversity and distinctiveness of accredited schools of public health, their resources, faculty and their student body. The proposed framework, while rooted in existing directives (e.g., 10 Essential Public Health Services, GCCHE competencies), adopts a tiered approach to integrating climate change into graduate public health curriculum that can be readily applied by institutions training the next generation of public health leaders.

We will describe a family-centered citizen science project to empower high school students and their teachers to address environmental concerns about radon exposure in homes in rural Appalachian Kentucky. Community members expressed concerns about radon exposure given the increase in fracking, the underlying bedrock geology, high smoking prevalence and secondhand smoke exposure, and high rates of lung cancer in the region. Although 85% of lung cancer cases are caused by cigarette smoking and SHS, radon exposure accounts for 10-15% of lung cancer cases. We adapted a home radon testing toolkit designed for classroom education with youth citizen scientists. The radon toolkit includes information about radon, how to test, and how to interpret the findings. The classroom training included: (1) human subjects training for youth to be added to the IRB-approved study protocol; (2) information on the health effects of radon; (3) review of the science protocol and instructions for deploying the Alpha Energy test kit in their home (location, duration of testing, when to return) to ensure rigorous data collection; and (4) considerations for report-back if home radon levels are high (> 4.0 pCi/L). After classroom training, youth citizen scientists explained the study to their parents and obtained informed consent. If radon levels were high, the trained youth citizen scientists discussed options with their parents, in consultation with the academic team. For homeowners who chose to mitigate, we provided a voucher to pay for $1,000 of the total cost to cover approximately half the cost of radon mitigation. We validated the home radon toolkit at the Kentucky sites using in situ soil radon gas measurements, and evaluated the usability and feasibility of the toolkit for radon sampling with high school students and their families. We will share results and benefits of the family-centered home radon testing toolkit in rural Appalachia.