Climate and Community Health
Assessing Impact and Improving Resilience
Climate and environmental conditions directly impact health, and hospitals, health systems and other health care organizations play a vital role in supporting climate-resilient communities.
Beyond the immediate impacts of weather events on the health of a community, ongoing climate conditions can exacerbate acute and chronic health conditions, creating additional health disparities for the affected population. Protecting the health care workforce and their patients from climate challenges requires tactical guidance and multisector coordination.
Hospitals and health systems have a vested interest in understanding the impacts of climate on community health and in learning to help mitigate harm from climate and extreme weather events.
Climate and Community Health
The AHA aims to offer resources to support hospitals’ efforts to assess, plan for and respond to the impacts of climate on communities’ health.
Assessing Impact
A technical expert panel will identify leading practices, tools and resources that can help hospitals and health systems integrate climate resilience into their community health strategies. Read about the TEP members.
Improving Resilience
Resources, including snapshot reports, will be shared with the field as part of this initiative. In addition, a comprehensive toolkit covering climate as a social driver of health is in development. Learn more.