Climate, Emergencies, and Disasters

Leadership

Mitchell Berger, M.P.H.

Public Health Advisor
National Mental Health and Substance Use Policy Laboratory
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Cinnamon A. Dixon, D.O., M.P.H.

Medical Officer, Pediatric Trauma and Critical Illness Branch
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

CDR Danny Malashock, Ph.D., M.S., R.E.H.S.

U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps
Office of Radiation and Indoor Air
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

CAPT Tarah S. Somers, R.N., M.S.N., M.P.H.

Regional Director, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Region 1 (New England)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Kimberly Thigpen Tart, J.D., M.P.H.

Senior Health Science Policy Analyst
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIH
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Amelia (Nguyen) Yu, Ph.D.

Designated Federal Officer, Children's Health Protection Advisory Committee
Office of Children's Health Protection
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Purpose

The purpose of the Subcommittee on Climate, Emergencies, and Disasters is to empower federal partners to collectively assess
and address gaps and inequities in health protection and research related to children and pregnant/lactating mothers that results or arises from climate change, public health emergencies, or disasters. This subcommittee was stood up in July 2021, expanding the scope of the prior Subcommittee on Climate Change to include public health emergencies and disasters. Issue for children related to these three areas often, but not always, overlap. Each type of event can individually increase children's exposure to environmental hazards and safety hazards that put their health at risk, and increasingly, children are at risk of experiencing more than one type at a time or in quick succession. Such events can worsen existing health disparities, cause direct health effects, and disrupting the social systems and infrastructures that help children and families address health issues. Protecting children from these risks is critical to their well-being and resilience. Recognizing the need for focused attention on all three areas, the SCED set up subgroups dedicated to Climate Change, and Emergencies and Disasters, respectively, which meet on an offset schedule from the full subcommittee, where they report back.

The current goals of the subcommittee include:

Strengthen federal interagency coordination and collaboration
Build external partnerships and public health awareness
Provide expert consultation and guidance
Facilitate development and coordination of a federal research agenda

Activities

Interagency Engagement

The subcommittee works to provide its combined knowledge and expertise to relevant federal activities. Examples include:

The Interagency Crosscutting Group on Climate Change and Human Health (CCHHG) of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which coordinates, implements, evaluates, and communicates federal research and scientific activities related to the human health impacts of global climate change.
The National Integrated Heat Health Information System/Interagency Working Group on Extreme Heat on implementation of the National Heat Strategy in ways that are protective of children’s health and safety
The Working Group on Climate Change and Youth Behavioral Health, established under the HHS Office of Climate Change and Health Equity, to identify needs and opportunities for federal action
The Action Collaborative on Disaster Research of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine to convene multi-sector partners around ways to protect children and improve health care responses post-disaster and disseminate recommendations to practitioners
The National Advisory Committee on Children in Disasters (NACCD) which was established to provide expert advice to the Secretary of HHS. The SCED provided consultation to the development, membership, and goals.
The co-sponsored ASTHO/ASPR How Emergency Preparedness Can Better Protect Children’s Health listening session on how to better prepare for the needs of children in future public health emergencies.

Landscape Analysis

The subcommittee is conducting a landscape analysis that will map federal capacities in understanding, investigating, intervening, and communicating about the topics that are the focus of this group and assess priority needs of children. This activity is also aimed at helping to identify appropriate and effective ways in which the President's Task Force can expand, enhance, or amplify the work of its federal members.

Accomplishments

Requests for Information

One way in which the SCED seeks to further actions on its topic areas is by providing written responses to federal and other Requests for Information to raise awareness of related children’s environmental health and children’s safety issues and recommend actions to address them. These responses are co-written by the interested members of the SCED and represent only the views of the authors.

Request for Information: NICHD Strategic Plan 2025 (NOT-HD-24-028) The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) request for feedback. August 2024
Request for Information: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Input for developing the 2024-2028 NIEHS Strategic Plan. (NOT-ES-23-005). April 2023
Request for Information on the NIH Office of the Disease Prevention Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2024-2028, Prevention Research: Creating a Healthier Future for All (website). April 2023
Request for Information on Climate Change and Human Health (NOT-ES-21-009). The National Institutes of Health request for feedback on research approaches and topics on the health implications of climate change in the United States and globally, including impacts on vulnerable populations including children and pregnant women. September 2021

Information Exchange

The SCED serves as a forum for dissemination and exchange of information among federal agencies and to others interested in the Task Force priority areas. Federal staff and other experts are regularly invited to present to the SCED on programs and initiatives of interest.

Climate Change Accomplishments

Kids and Climate Health Zone
USEPA

Kids and Climate Health Zone

The SCED provided review and input into this interactive website hosted by the EPA. The site provides a collection of stories and information on how climate stressors are impacting health across childhood life stages and regions of the United States, as well as guidance for what people can do to protect their children and families. The tool uses the best available scientific information from the U.S. Global Change Research Program's  Fifth National Climate Assessment and other published resources.

NIHHIS Heat Safety Awareness Social Media Campaign

During three weeks of the summer heat season of 2024 (early, mid, and late), the SCED participated in the National Integrated Heat Health Information System’s awareness campaign by disseminating federal messages and resources that address ways to protect children of all ages from the effects of extreme heat through the Task Force website and email list. Examples of resources include:

Climate Change and Children's Health Policy Roundup

Recognition of the unique vulnerability of children has spurred policy actions and programs to protect children's health against the impacts of climate change at the federal, state, local, and tribal levels through both government and nongovernmental efforts. The Task Force gathered stories to highlight these policies and activities and to help build a community of practice around children's health and climate change.

Expert Consultation on the Effects of Climate Change on Children's Health

In July 2014, the Task Force hosted an Expert Consultation on the Effects of Climate Change on Children's Health in Washington. D.C. This meeting marked the first time leaders from across the federal government met specifically to discuss climate change and children's health. Federal leaders spoke on the need for better understanding of the impacts of climate change to protect children's health and safety. Scientific experts explored children's vulnerabilities due to heat, waterborne and vector-borne diseases, extreme weather, changing nutritional value in foods, air pollution, extreme events, and mental health. Following this workshop and in response to growing recognition of climate change and its consequences for health, the Task Force established a Subcommittee on Climate Change.

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Emergencies and Disasters Accomplishments

Action Collaborative for Disaster Research Symposia

SCED members collaborated with, helped to coordinate, and participated in two major symposia convened by the Action Collaborative for Disaster Research which operates under the auspices of the Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Disasters and Emergencies of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Disaster Data Science Symposium This meeting discussed disaster science questions; shared disaster data sources; examined opportunities to increase access and utilization disaster data sources and streamline interoperability and integration of data for science and improved understanding. April 2024. Multiple sessions and presentations/use cases were pediatric-specific including:
- Head Start Environmental Exposure Mapping Tool and Resource Library
- Data Science and Lives Saved: the Story of Emergency Department Pediatric Readiness
- Health System Utilization and Dissemination in Surge Contexts: Pediatric Challenges and Adaptations during the Tripledemic
Symposium on Pediatric Disaster Science This meeting was convened to highlight how research and evidence have the potential to improve outcomes for children at risk of experiencing or who have experienced a disaster. August 2022. Recommendations resulting from the symposia were published in Pediatric Disaster Science: Understanding Needs, Highlighting Imperatives, and Leveraging Opportunities, along with several follow-on articles in a Pediatric Disaster Science Series.