What can cause miscarriages, early delivery, diseases that account for 10 percent of deaths in children under five, and harm children’s brain development?

The answer: air pollution.

And it’s getting worse. According to a new report by UNICEF, 300 million children live in areas where the air they breathe is “extremely toxic.” And this causes almost 600,000 children to die from different diseases that are either caused or aggravated by the polluted air. On top of that, millions of kids suffer from respiratory illnesses that not only affect their breathing and physical conditions but also their mental health.

Through use of satellite images, UNICEF found how the air these 300 million children breathe exceeds international guidelines for acceptable outdoor air pollution by at least six times. Another two billion children live in areas where the levels exceed the guidelines by a lesser amount.

With 300million #children breathing toxic air; ‘No society can afford to ignore #airpollution‘ – @UNICEF chief. https://t.co/Zrx5isWid1

— UN News Centre (@UN_News_Centre) October 31, 2016

Indoor pollution is worse in rural areas, where the burning of solid fuels like coal, or the use of wood for cooking and heating is common. Mold, bacteria, cleaning chemicals, and hazardous building materials are also problematic in these areas, while outdoor pollution is more common in urban areas due to exhaust fumes, the use of fossil fuels, and big industries. Needless to say, both kinds of pollution are worse in developing countries and poor communities, where the means or knowledge to use environmentally friendly options are limited.

Children are generally more susceptible to air pollution since their lungs are still developing. They breathe faster than grown ups, and take in more air relative to body weight. Since they are developing and growing, their brains and overall immune systems are also more vulnerable. The worst conditions are in South Asia, with 620 million children exposed to toxic air, closely followed by Africa with 520 million.

UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said in a statement:

Air pollution is a major contributing factor in the deaths of around 600,000 children under five every year – and it threatens the lives and futures of millions more every day. Pollutants don’t only harm children’s developing lungs – they can actually cross the blood-brain barrier and permanently damage their developing brains – and, thus, their futures. No society can afford to ignore air pollution.

UNICEF is now urging all countries and world leaders to make an effort to meet the World Health Organization’s guidelines for air quality by investing in renewable energy sources and cutting back on harmful fossil fuel. It is also important to make sure kids have access to healthcare and that they are not exposed to other sources of pollution such as factories. To enhance air is to protect children. And both are equally important to our future.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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The World Health Organization’s director general, Margaret Chan, recently warned her executive board and the world that the Zika virus is posed to “spread explosively” throughout North and South America this year. Another WHO officer suggested that three to four million new infections are likely in that time frame.

The Zika virus, (pronounced ZEE-kuh) named after the Ugandan forest where it was first discovered, is transmitted by mosquitos. When Brazil reported its first case of Zika in 2015, it marked the first instance of the illness in the Western Hemisphere.

While the illness poses a threat to the countries it affects, the Zika virus isn’t much of an immediate concern for people living in the United States. The Aedes mosquito which carries the virus is native only to parts of Florida, and prefers the warmer climates of South America and Mexico. A person who is infected with Zika by a mosquito may experience a mild fever, a skin rash, and conjunctivitis, lasting up to a week. At first glance, Zika’s symptoms are indistinguishable from and not much more threatening than influenza.

This map shows how over time, the virus has moved from mosquito populations across oceans.

MAP: The spread of the Zika virus http://t.co/4vFT5ok6R0 pic.twitter.com/L3FPytZqts

— Post Graphics (@PostGraphics) September 21, 2015

Zika’s effects, however, are more than skin deep. For one, many countries with inadequate health services may see symptoms worsen. But the far more concerning result of these infections is the effect of the virus on the next generation. Many doctors share concerns that the children of mothers who have contracted Zika during pregnancy are born with a condition known as microcephaly. The connection between the virus and the condition was only made recently, as doctors in Brazil found the virus in the placentas of affected children, and in one autopsy of a baby who died.

Microcephaly, literally meaning “small head,” is a birth defect/condition in which stunted or abnormal development of the brain during gestation causes a child to be born with a smaller head than is healthy. Children born with microcephaly often experience developmental delays, difficulties with coordination and balance, and mental retardation, among various other physical ailments, according to the Mayo Clinic.

The main prevention advice being dispensed by health organizations like WHO is to avoid mosquito exposure by using mosquito nets and insect repellent. One doctor went as far as to instruct women in affected areas to not get pregnant, and women of child-bearing age who may have children are advised against traveling to these areas.

This level of attention is reminiscent of the Ebola scare of from 2014 to 2015, and word of such a widespread outbreak leaves many wondering if they should be fearful for their health. A recent Center for Disease Control report that a dozen travelers returning to the United States had the Zika virus further fanned the flames of concern.

The ramifications of an outbreak as large as WHO is predicting could be heartbreaking–if any the millions of affected women become pregnant, their children are at great risk of conditions which would lower their quality of life. President Barack Obama has urged the rapid development of vaccines and treatments  for Zika infections among American doctors, but the fate of millions will rest on careful prevention and hopefully, medical advances.

Sean Simon

Sean Simon is an Editorial News Senior Fellow at Law Street, and a senior at The George Washington University, studying Communications and Psychology. In his spare time, he loves exploring D.C. restaurants, solving crossword puzzles, and watching sad foreign films. Contact Sean at SSimon@LawStreetMedia.com.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) recently announced that Cuba is the first county in the world to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis.

“Eliminating transmission of a virus is one of the greatest public health achievements possible,” Dr. Margaret Chan, the WHO director-general, said in a Tuesday press release. “This is a major victory in our long fight against HIV and sexually transmitted infections, and an important step towards having an AIDS-free generation.”

Preventive treatment for mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis is not 100 percent effective, so the WHO defines elimination as a reduction of transmission to a level that it no longer constitutes a public health problem. So the country must demonstrate that it has seen less than 50 infections from this particular route of transmission per 100,000 live births for at least one year. Cuba has surpassed those requirements. In 2013, only two babies were born with HIV and five with syphilis. Officials claim that this recent milestone shows that an end to the AIDS epidemic is possible, and that they expect more countries to seek validation from the WHO.

There are 16 million women worldwide who are living with HIV, and each year, about 1.4 million of them will get pregnant. The risk of passing the virus to the child is only around 1 percent if anti-HIV drugs are provided during phases of potential infection, which span through the pregnancy until breastfeeding. However if completely untreated, the risks are much greater, with a 45 percent chance of the child being infected during one of the pregnancy stages. Even though syphilis does not receive as much attention, infection during pregnancy and the absence of antibiotics can lead to stillbirth or neonatal death.

In order to reduce the mother-to-child transmission rate, the WHO and Pan American Health Organization began to work with Cuba and other countries back in 2010. The initiative worked to improve testing and treatment for these infections, caesarian deliveries, prenatal care, and breastfeeding substitutes. Some of their services also include prenatal care. Maternal and child health programs are integrated with HIV and STD programs. Similar services, which are a part of Cuba’s universal health system, are being implemented in a number of other countries to help work toward the global target of less than 40,000 new infections annually.

Worldwide, the number of children born with HIV dropped to 240,000 in 2013 from 400,000 in 2009, the WHO reported. In order to reach the target of no more than 40,000 new child infections in 2015, officials say more efforts will be needed around the world. But while Cuba may have been the first country to receive the WHO validation, that does not mean other countries have not reach elimination status. According to the Pan American Health Organization’s Director Carissa Etienne, it’s likely that the U.S. and Canada have already eliminated mother-to-child transmission of both of these infections, but haven’t sought validation.

So what do Cuba’s recent medical advances mean for the United States now that a relationship has been formed?

Cuba has one of the most advanced medical biotechnology industries in the world and invests heavily in the production of new treatments and medications. The Cuban biotech industry is said to hold around 1,200 international patients, and markets pharmaceutical products and vaccines in more than 50 countries–but not in the United States. For the 26 million people in the United States who have diabetes and the 80,000 Americans who suffer from diabetics amputations a year, this has significance. Because of the government’s continuous funding, Cuba has developed a safe and effective medication that reduces the risk of amputation by 78 percent.

This is just one example of how Americans can benefit from all of Cuba’s medical advances. Cuba’s medical prowess is impressive–eliminating HIV and syphilis transmissions are just one example of its potential. Even with the new relationship recently announced, Cuba and the United States have a lot of work to do to improve their relationship. But hopefully this new relationship will encourage Cuba to share its medical advances, and improve health worldwide.

Angel Idowu

Angel Idowu is a member of the Beloit College Class of 2016 and was a Law Street Media Fellow for the Summer of 2015. Contact Angel at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Counterfeit drugs pose both domestic and global threats, presenting serious health risks worldwide. Although the issue is most prevalent outside the United States, Americans aren’t immune to the illegal market’s reach, as there have been far-reaching counterfeit drug cases in the U.S. As a result, there’s been a large effort to combat the problem in America. Read on to learn more about the proliferation of counterfeit drugs, and what’s being done to stop them.

What are counterfeit drugs?

According to the World Health Organization (WHO):

Counterfeit medicine is one which is deliberately and fraudulently mislabeled with respect to identity and/or source. Counterfeiting can apply to both branded and generic products and counterfeit products may include products with the correct ingredients or with the wrong ingredients, without active ingredients, with insufficient active ingredients or with fake packaging.

The issue was first addressed in the 1995 WHO Conference of Experts on Rational Drug Use in Nairobi, Kenya. Since then, the market has expanded, but preventive measures have also multiplied. Most counterfeited drugs consist of antibiotics, hormones, analgesics, steroids, and antihistamines. In all, counterfeit drugs are divided into six categories: products without active ingredients (32.1 percent of counterfeits), products with incorrect quantities of active ingredients (20.2 percent of counterfeits), products with wrong ingredients (21.4 percent of counterfeits), products with correct quantities of active ingredients but with fake packaging (15.6 percent of counterfeits), copies of an original product (1 percent of counterfeits), and products with high levels of impurities and contaminants (8.5 percent of counterfeits).

The FDA believes the growth in the counterfeit drug market may be due to the escalating costs of prescription drugs, advanced technologies to develop counterfeit drugs, and the anonymity and ease of the internet.

Health Risks

The severity of the risk factors for any specific counterfeit drug will vary. Generally, they can actively cause unexpected side effects, an allergic reaction, the worsening of the existing medical condition, and/or prolong treatment periods.

A counterfeit drug that substitutes an inert substance for the active ingredient will not improve a person’s medical condition. For example, the main ingredient in Lipitor (a commonly counterfeited drug in the U.S.) is atorvastatin. Its purpose is to lower high cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and therefore reduce the risk of stroke and heart attack. If a patient believes he/she is taking atorvastatin, but in fact is consuming an inert substance, the consequences could be deadly. Even worse, in some cases, not all substituted or added substances are inert, but are instead hazardous.

 U.S. and Global Statistics About Counterfeit Drugs

The international counterfeit drug market amasses $200 billion a year. Internet sales make up $75 billion of that market. Most counterfeits are made in China and India. In the United States, 80 percent of counterfeit medicine is brought into the country from outside.

The WHO estimates that up to ten percent of the drugs sold internationally are counterfeit. In some countries this number can reach up to 50 percent. Developed countries that have strict regulations and institutions like the FDC, are estimated to sell less than one percent of counterfeit drugs. However, the United States has seen its share of highly publicized cases. With a few exceptions, the United States counterfeit market is generally focused on “lifestyle” drugs like diet, erectile dysfunction, and hair growth pills.

The counterfeit market is growing in the U.S. In 2014, an estimated 60 various Pfizer products were being counterfeited compared to just 20 in 2008. One of the most popular counterfeited pharmacy items is ChapStick. China reported holding 1,300 alleged counterfeiters and confiscating $362 million worth of counterfeit product in 2013.

According to the WHO, an estimated 200,000 people die a year due to “ineffective, fake, and substandard malaria drugs” that don’t eliminate parasites from a person’s system. To make matters worse, the fake drugs often contain a smaller dosage of the active ingredient than necessary. Thus the fake drug cures symptoms without curing the disease and fuels drug-resistant strands.

Counterfeit Drugs in the U.S.

A counterfeit maker of Avastin, a cancer drug, accessed the U.S. supply chain in 2012. This was the first major exception to the notion that counterfeits in the U.S. were limited to lifestyle drugs. Undetected, doctors and purchasing managers for oncology clinics “bought and administered the counterfeit medicines to their patients.”

In May 2012, a counterfeit version of Teva Pharmaceutical’s Adderall 30 mg tablets entered the market. The FDA labeled the counterfeit “unsafe, ineffective, and potentially harmful.” The counterfeit version did not contain the active ingredients dextroamphetamine saccharate, amphetamine aspartate, dextroamphetamine sulfate, and amephtamine sulfate. Instead, it contained ineffective ingredients tramadol and acetaminophen. The original product is orange and peach in color with markings, while the counterfeit is white and devoid of any markings. Entering the counterfeit market for Adderall was probably seen as a lucrative opportunity, as Adderall is on the FDA’s drug shortage list, which means that it is dispersed only when available.

The drug Procrit, used to treat anemic patients with “cancer and other serious diseases,” had a large counterfeit scare in 2013. FDA investigators found three fake batches bearing three different lot numbers and expiration dates. The fake medicines contained a clear liquid with no active ingredient and two life-threatening strains of bacteria. Not only was patients’ anemia going unchecked, but already-weak patients were consuming potentially deadly bacteria. The FDA dispersed a warning to the public and provided ways to check the authenticity of the product.

Precautions to Avoid Counterfeit Drugs

There are ways to help ensure that patients and customers purchase legitimate prescription drugs. Most counterfeited drugs are sold through the internet. The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy investigated 10,000 pharmaceutical sites and found that only three percent of the sites appeared “to be in compliance with pharmacy laws and practice standards.”

Internet sites to be avoided include those outside the United States; those that don’t offer a physical address; those that don’t display a license by the applicable state board of pharmacy;  those that don’t provide a licensed pharmacist to answer questions; and sites that don’t require a prescription. Consumers should also look for the Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites (VIPPS) seal. There are over 30 online pharmacies that display this seal, which was created by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy to combat sites selling counterfeit drugs.

Consumers must also be cautious when inspecting the packaging of their product by looking for altered or unsealed containers or any physical differences in the appropriate packaging or product appearance. A change in taste and side effects could signal counterfeits as well.

 Actions Against Counterfeit Drugs

In 2012, the United States and 110 other countries participated in INTERPOL’s Pangea sting operation. The operation resulted in:

11,000 illegal online pharmacies being shut down, the removal 19,000 ads for fake drugs on social media sites, the seizure of 9.4 million doses of phony medicines…Google agreed to spend $50 million annually over the next five years to crack down on advertising for illegal online pharmacies.

Pharmaceutical companies also have their own internal investigations to fight against counterfeit medicines. For example, one method is similar to fingerprinting. Pfizer designed an infrared spectrometer that analyzes a product’s chemical bonds. Every drug has unique “reflected and absorbed wavelengths.” A graph will produce peaks and valleys–like a fingerprint–depending on the ingredients and their quantities. Those in the Pfizer lab can superimpose fake “fingerprints” over the real ones on the computer and note the differences. Further testing with X-ray diffraction can show exactly what ingredients the fake is composed of.

In 2014, Eli Lilly, an Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical company, invested $110 million in creating traceable, unique stamping codes for all of its products sold globally. The stamping codes will allow the company to trace each product from manufacturing facility to patient, and combat fakes.

The Legal Side of Drug Counterfeiting

The Prescription Drug Marketing Act of 1987 (modified in 1992) effectively closed off the United States supply chain. The law directly aimed at protecting American consumers and avoiding counterfeit drugs by providing legal safeguards. It “provides that prescription drug products manufactured in the United States and exported can no longer be reimported, except by the product’s manufacturer.” It also provides uniform standards for all distribution channels including hospitals and wholesalers.

The Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act was enacted in July 2012. It granted the FDA new and enhanced powers to regulate prescription drugs and combat counterfeit drugs in the U.S. The FDA, for example, can now “administratively detain drugs believed to be adulterated or misbranded, and the authority to destroy certain adulterated, misbranded, or counterfeit drugs offered for import.”

The 2013 Drug Quality and Security Act “outlines critical steps to build an electronic, interoperable system to identify and trace certain prescription drugs as they are distributed in the United States.” Pharmaceutical companies must implement a tracking system by 2015 and tag serial numbers to each singular unit sold in the U.S. by 2017.

Conclusion

The counterfeiting of medicines is not a problem secluded to developing countries. Without proactive enforcement, counterfeit drugs could erupt in the United States. It is a highly lucrative industry for the black market. Pharmaceutical companies and consumers alike need to be responsible with prescription drugs, as the potential health risks can be deadly. This is a global problem that requires global cooperation.

Resources

Primary

FDA: Counterfeit Drugs, Questions and Answers

CDC: Counterfeit Drugs

FDA: Counterfeit Drugs

Additional

Nova Next: Cracking Down on Counterfeit Drugs

CBS News: Your Anemia Drug May Be Fake

Fierce Pharma: Lilly Steps up War on Counterfeits With $110M Serialization Program

HRF: 20 Shocking Counterfeit Drug Statistics

Medscape: Counterfeit Version of Adderall Unsafe, Ineffective, FDA Warns

PhRMA: Counterfeit Drugs

National Center for Biotechnology Information: The Prescription Drug Act of 1987

Jessica McLaughlin

Jessica McLaughlin is a graduate of the University of Maryland with a degree in English Literature and Spanish. She works in the publishing industry and recently moved back to the DC area after living in NYC. Contact Jessica at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Out of context, the words “climate change” don’t sound very scary at all. Here’s the context that makes it scary.

The earth’s climate has been in flux since it burst into existence some 4.5 billion years ago. It’s been hot and cold and everywhere in between. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere danced between 200-300 parts per million (ppm) during the earth’s long lifespan. But starting in the 1900s, carbon dioxide  pushed past the 300 ppm marker and kept climbing. Today, carbon dioxide levels “weigh in” at about 400 ppm. So what? Well, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases trap heat and send average temperatures climbing. Even worse, experts believe human activities like burning fossil fuels and deforestation increased carbon dioxide and caused climate change.

We’ve only been on the earth for a fraction of its lifetime. We’ve evolved based on certain conditions, and now those conditions are changing. In other words, we’re not well adapted for the world we’re creating. The changing climate is a crucible of possible human health complications.

Here’s what the future of health looks like if we don’t combat and adapt to climate change.

 Climate Change: What’s Happening?

Before I run away with how climate change will kill us all (just kidding!), let’s do a quick overview.

Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide hang out in our atmosphere and absorb heat from the sun. Since these gases don’t occur naturally, the extra heat they absorb causes temperatures to increase above normal levels. As of 1900, carbon dioxide emissions from human activities have billowed up by 40 percent and global temperatures keep creeping upward too.

In our interconnected world, increased temperatures have implications beyond needing more A/C. Increased heat warms our oceans, melts polar and alpine ice, and drives up the sea level, which in turn facilitates stronger and more devastating storms.

Why is climate change bad for our health?

Ripples from climate change impact things directly related to your health, like the water and food supply. The World Health Organization predicts that climate change will cause 250,000 additional deaths a year between 2030 and 2050 because of heat stress, malnutrition, malaria, and diarrhoeal disease. Areas with fewer resources to adapt will suffer the most.

Here are some startling health scenarios of the future, and how climate change might cause them.

Diseases Will Become More Virulent

Climate change will make it easier for existing diseases to infect more people by altering their geographic range and lengthening the infection season. For example, ticks carrying Lyme Disease will cover more ground as more regions warm to temperatures where they can survive. Mosquitoes, which carry many diseases like Malaria and Dengue, will also flourish in warmer temperatures. High temperatures increase their reproduction rate, grow their breeding season, and enable them to bite more people. In general, all bacteria multiply faster in warmer temperatures, so many pathogens will find our warming climate suitable for proliferation.

Climate change might also encourage emerging and shifting diseases. Experts at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln say climate change makes it easier for diseases to switch to new hosts. Many assume that the co-evolution of pathogens and specific hosts will make it harder for pathogens to shift and infect a new host with different biological makeup. Alarming evidence has shown that pathogens can shift to new hosts rather quickly when necessary. The researchers offer Costa Rica as an example, where humans decimated the population of capuchin and spider monkeys. A parasite once exclusive to these monkeys was unphased and latched on to howler monkeys, a different genus of monkey. If pathogens need to make rapid shifts, humans might find themselves facing several for which they have no immunity. Climate change threatens to uproot habitats and living patterns, bringing humans, animals, and insects into closer contact with each other–and their unfamiliar pathogens.

More Will Die From Extreme Heat

Heat stroke and heat-associated dehydration are the most common causes of weather-related deaths. People with existing cardiovascular issues are especially vulnerable to extreme heat. Furthermore, heat complications have a cumulative effect; your vulnerability to heat stroke increases after one episode. Cities have been heating up at a higher rate than rural areas in recent years. This leaves some of the world’s most populated areas in danger.

Basic Hygiene Won’t Be Guaranteed

As rainfall becomes less predictable, it will compromise our safe water supply. With less safe water, it won’t be nearly as easy to do simple things that prevent disease, like washing hands. People take hand-washing for granted, but it reduces risk of diarrhoeal disease by 20 percent, which actually kills 760,000 children five and under annually.

Too much water, brought from the climate change risks of severe flooding, also wreaks havoc on sanitation. Floods contaminate freshwater, spread waterborne disease, and create ideal living conditions for mosquitoes–one of the most prolific disease carriers.

Breathing Won’t Be as Easy

Warmer temperatures bring more ground-level ozone, a miasma of pollutants like carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide. Ground-level ozone is also called smog, a term you’re probably more familiar with. It’s been known to damage lung tissue and aggravate respiratory systems. Increased smog will make breathing an excruciating task for people with existing lung diseases and Asthma. It might even encourage the development of Asthma in otherwise healthy people.

People with allergies should also be very afraid of climate change. The spring allergy season has already grown in the United States and it threatens to continue expansion. Ragweed allergies? Tests show that more carbon dioxide and higher temperatures increases the yield of ragweed pollen.

More People Will Go Hungry

Climbing temperatures, patchy rainfall, droughts, and floods will devastate staple crop yields in the world’s poorest regions. Malnutrition and undernutrition will burgeon as a result. By as early as 2020, crop yields in some African countries could be halved.

Increasingly severe weather already destroys crops. Pollinators disappear while pathogens and pests flourish to chomp through human crops. For example, soybean rust, a fungal infection caused by the pathogen P. pachyrhizi, spreads easily in warm, moist environments. Soybean rust has been a scourge in Asia and Africa for years and was introduced to the United States by a hurricane. Winds carry the spores for miles, leaving behind crop devastation. Similar diseases will most likely plague crops in new climates.

911 Might Not Be Working

Scientists believe climate change will lead to much stronger storms. The World Health Organization says that natural disasters reported globally have tripled since 1960, resulting in over 60,000 deaths.

Strong storms and natural disasters destroy medical facilities, cut the electricity that powers medical equipment, interferes with emergency communications tools like 911, and hinders transportation. Many injuries will happen in times when disaster strikes, even though our responsive capabilities will be restricted.

We Gotta Do Something

It’s pretty clear that we have to do something before things get out of hand. Do something…but what?

We’re flooded by climate change recommendations, but here are some key points from the 2014 National Climate Assessment. The assessment distills climate change responses into two main categories:

• Adaptation: Reducing negative impacts of climate change through infrastructure and preparedness planning. An adaptation example is the creation of the State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience that aims to prepare communities for the challenges of changing weather.
• Mitigation: Attempting to reduce the climate change itself through updated policies and practices. A mitigation example is the Appliance and Equipment Standards Program, which pushes for energy efficiency.

While these two categories encompass different approaches, we need both to achieve the greatest effect. If you’re interested in reading about more climate change adaptation and mitigation initiatives, check out this fact sheet on President Obama’s Climate Change Action Plan. In terms of public health, however, we’ll stick to a few health-related initiatives, most of which fall under the adaptation category.

The Sustainable and Climate-Resilient Healthcare Facilities Initiative

As the name suggests, this plan aims to prepare healthcare facilities for climate change and related complications. The Department of Health and Human Services released an intensive guide with a framework designed to help healthcare facilities revamp their infrastructure and technology. The initiative includes an online planning toolkit that serves as an interactive guide to walk professionals through these steps of resilience:

1. Identify the problem.
2. Determine vulnerabilities.
3. Investigate options.
4. Evaluate risks and costs.
5. Take action.

So far, healthcare industry leaders like Kaiser Permanente have committed to use the guides to help in their resilience planning.

The BRACE (Building Resilience Against Climate Effects) Framework

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed a framework of preparedness geared more toward public health professionals working locally. Their framework involves projecting the impacts of climate change and assessing effectiveness of interventions. The evidence of effectiveness will be especially useful for people planning future interventions. Click here to see a chart made by the CDC to explain the BRACE framework.

NYC Cool Roofs

The NYC Cool Roofs initiative presents a perfect real-world example of an initiative already underway. Reflective surfaces are added to New York City roofs, which mitigate further climate change by reducing cooling energy needed, consequentially lowering greenhouse gas emissions. They’re also adaptive as they’ll help cool the city, and hopefully reduce heat-related deaths.

Controversy in Congress

Many look at the Keystone XL pipeline decision to judge the climate change temperature in Congress. To the dismay of environmentalists, the Senate rejected two amendments related to the Keystone XL pipeline bill that admitted the human role in climate change and called for more government interventions. The President just vetoed the bill and many believe Congress will not override it.

Still, many climate change advocates are alarmed that the bill went as far it did, saying it would contribute to climate change because of the sheer amount of extra energy it would require and carbon pollution it would make. According to this NRDC Issue Brief, building the pipeline would create the same carbon dioxide emissions as Americans driving 60 billion more miles this year.

Conclusion

If you’re frustrated with the accuracy of forecasts now, be prepared. While climate change poses a new challenge without guiding evidence or precedent, the health complications from climate change have already begun. We see more cases of Lyme disease. Allergies grow in severity. We’re not sure what will work, we’re not sure what the future will bring, but we’re sure we need to brace ourselves for coming changes and meet current changes head on. We all need to work together to make sure that we stay healthy in coming years.

Resources

Primary

World Health Organization: Climate Change and Health

Environmental Protection Agency: A Student’s Guide to Climate Change 

U.S. Global Change Research Program: National Climate Assessment 2014

White House: Strengthening the Climate Resilience of the Health Care Sector

City of New York: NYC Cool Roofs

World Health Organization: Diarrhoeal disease

Additional

Emergency Management: How a Warming Climate Impacts Public Health

Science Daily: More Infectious Diseases Emerging in Animals as Climate Changes

Nature: Climate Variation Explains a Third of Global Crop Yield Variability

Nature: Delays in Reducing Waterborne and Water-Related Infectious Diseases in China Under Climate Change

Science Daily: Heat Waves Becoming More Prominent in Urban Areas

Science Daily: Preparing for Hell and High Water: Research Advocate for Climate Adaption Science

New England Journal of Medicine: Climate Change and Human Health

American Meteorological Society: Climate Change Risk Management

American Phytopathological Society: Soybean Rust

The New York Times: Senate Rejects Human Role in Climate Change

Natural Resources Defense Council: Climate Impacts of the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline

BBC News: Obama Vetoes Keystone Oil Pipeline Bill

Politico: President Obama Vetoes Keystone Bill; GOP Plans Override Vote

Ashley Bell

Ashley Bell communicates about health and wellness every day as a non-profit Program Manager. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Economics from the College of William and Mary, and loves to investigate what changes in healthy policy and research might mean for the future. Contact Ashley at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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