Public Health Section

1
Public Health Section

• Workgroup Members
• R Gersberg PJE Quintana C Zohir
• K Prather LM Russell L Ray
• G Erbeck J Johnson A Kao
• B Rideout PJ Murray

2
Key Research Questions

• Human health consequences of climate change
• ? temperature related illnesses death
• ? air pollution/quality related health effects
• ? incidence of vector-borne diseases
• ? incidence of water and food borne diseases
• ? risk of "animal-borne disease
• (wildlife in closer contact with humans and
  domestic animals - transmission bridge between
  wildlife humans)
• ? death and injury due to wildfires

3
Datasets

• Public Health communicable and reportable disease
  databases
• Birth and death records
• Hospitalization and emergency department
  utilization reports
• Health behavior data sources
• Community Health Statistics
• Demographic data
• Animal control
• Others?

4
New Findings/Results

• San Diego specific estimates of increased
  morbidity and mortality due to
• More excessive heat/cold days
• Increasing air pollution danger days
• Increased contact between wildlife, domestic
  animals and humans
• Increasing risk of water and food borne diseases
• Drought and wildfires

5
Challenges Obstacles

• Lack of clear correlation between local climate
  change and local health outcomes
• Increase in actual numbers of cases may not be
  dramatic enough to gain the attention of policy
  makers
• Some data of interest may not be available
• Timeline we are working under