Climate and Health Risk Profiles

The risk profile project is comprised of two parts— a vulnerability assessment and disease burden projections. These two components are also the first two steps in the CDC’s Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) Framework. The risk profiles are essential for creating a strong foundation for future climate work. They allow for the prioritization of vulnerable communities and the targeting of climate impacts to better customize engagement and implementation activities. In addition, they provide HCPH with local references and statistics to communicate and advance our climate and health mission.

Phase 1: Vulnerability Assessments

The vulnerability assessments examine certain climate impacts and the corresponding health effects they have on communities. They identify which communities are most vulnerable, allowing HCPH to concentrate public health interventions (e.g. community outreach, cooling center placement and nature-based solutions) in areas that need them most. The current vulnerability assessments are focused around extreme heat, flooding and air quality. In the future the focus will expand to include other climate concerns and explore the interactions between multiple climate impacts.

• Climate and Health Vulnerability Assessments

Phase 2: Disease Burden Projections

Disease burden projections combine climate change projections and current climate-related disease data to produce estimates of disease burden under future climatic scenarios. With funding from the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) and the CDC, HCPH will collaborate with Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) to begin the disease burden projections for extreme heat.  

Please check back in summer 2021 for more updates.