New HHS office to take public health approach to addressing climate change, health equity

The Department of Health and Human Services Aug. 30 announced the establishment of an Office of Climate Change and Health Equity. The new office will tackle the issue of climate change through the prism of public health to protect communities most vulnerable to a changing climate’s impact. Among the new office’s tasks is to address health disparities exacerbated by climate impacts to enhance community health resilience. “We’ve always known that health is at the center of climate change, and now we’re going to double-down on a necessity: fighting climate change in order to help protect public health in our communities,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.