Improving public health responses to extreme weather events

Abstract

Recent advances in knowledge about the climate system have increased the ability of meteorologists to forecast extreme weather and climate events, such as floods and heatwaves. Public health agencies and authorities have had limited involvement in the development of early warning systems to take advantage of these forecasts to reduce the burden of disease associated with extreme events. Instead, public health has focused on surveillance and response activities to identify disease outbreaks following an extreme event. Although these systems are critical for detecting and investigating disease outbreaks, they are not designed for identifying and preventing many of the adverse health outcomes associated with extreme events. Designing and implementing effective disease prediction and preventions programs that incorporate advances in weather and climate forecasting have the potential to reduce illness, injury, and death. Critical components of an early warning system include the weather forecast, disease prediction models, and a response plan designed to pro-actively undertake activities to reduce projected adverse health outcomes. Because climate change may increase climate variability, early warning systems can both reduce current vulnerability to extreme events and increase the capacity to cope with a future that may be characterized by more frequent and more intense events. © 2005 World Health Organization.