US President Barack Obama on Tuesday launched an initiative in order to underscore the nexus between the climate change and public health, bringing the data and medical experts to the White House this week.
The White House is going to hold a Climate Change and Health Summit later this spring. The event will witness the presence of leading lights from the health sector, including Surgeon General Vivek Murthy.
The Obama administration is carrying expansion of its Climate Data Initiative, which was launched by the government last year, for the inclusion of over 150 health-relevant data sets.
Addressing a group at Howard University, Obama said that the warmer temperature conditions excessively contribute to several health problems, including asthma. The rising temperature increases the formation of smog pollutants. It also contributes in fuelling wildfires with the emission of soot or fine particles into the air.
“And so there are a whole host of public health impacts that are going to hit home. So we’ve got to do better in protecting vulnerable Americans. Ultimately, though, all of our families are going to be vulnerable. You can’t cordon yourself off from air or from climate,” Obama told the gathering which was attended by Horward’s College of Medicine Dean Edward E. Cornwell, III and Tyra Bryant-Stephens, responsible for directing the community asthma prevention program at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
The White House on Tuesday announced that a coalition of 30 deans, public health and nursing schools will together work for training the students to address the health impacts of the climate change.
The universities working for the cause include the University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins, the University of Nebraska and the Harvard University.
The US Global Change Research Program is also set to release a draft Climate and Health Assessment report detailing how the public health is impacted by changes in the air quality, weather conditions and vector-borne ailments.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is set to release an “Adaptation in Action Report” on Tuesday in order to highlight the actions taken by the state and local leaders in order to reduce the health impacts of global warming in San Francisco, New York, Minnesota, Maine, Michigan, Arizona, California and New York state.