“12 Steps to Operationalize Climate Change in a Local Health Department” is a new NACCHO fact sheet that helps local health departments address climate change and initiate programs to help mitigate the public health impacts associated with it.
The fact sheet identifies 12 important steps that local health departments should follow when initiating climate change work, and functions as a checklist to ensure all stages are successfully completed. It covers climate change education for health department staff, availability of staff and resources to address the issues, identification of existing effects in the community, and development and implementation of a climate change adaptation plan.
Previous NACCHO reports have shown that the majority of local health departments feel unprepared to deal with the public health impacts of climate change. Health department directors identified a lack of expertise and lack of adequate resources as significant impediments to their climate change preparedness planning. This newest fact sheet can help health departments mitigate some of the challenges they’ve faced in the past, and begin successfully planning and preparing for the effects of climate change.
