The vulnerability assessments examine specific climate impacts and the corresponding health effects they have on individuals. They identify which communities in Harris County are vulnerable, allowing HCPH to concentrate public health interventions such as community outreach, cooling center placement and/or nature-based solutions, in areas that need them most. The assessments can be utilized by HCPH and other organizations to provide a data-driven approach to climate change and health resilience efforts.
The assessments combine health, economic, governmental, community and environmental indicators together to create a vulnerability score for each census tract. The vulnerability score allows comparison of different areas to one another. The indicators are separated into three different categories: exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity.