Houghton Adele, Austin Jessica, Beerman Abby, Horton Clayton
Biositu, LLC, 505D W Alabama St., Houston, TX 77006, USA.
Green River District Health Department, 1501 Breckenridge Street, Owensboro, KY 42303, USA.
J Environ Public Health. 2017;2017:3407325. doi: 10.1155/2017/3407325. Epub 2017 Mar 2.
Climate change represents a significant and growing threat to population health. Rural areas face unique challenges, such as high rates of vulnerable populations; economic uncertainty due to their reliance on industries that are vulnerable to climate change; less resilient infrastructure; and lower levels of access to community and emergency services than urban areas. This article fills a gap in public health practice by developing climate and health environmental public health indicators for a local public health department in a rural area. We adapted the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network's framework for climate and health indicators to a seven-county health department in Western Kentucky. Using a three-step review process, we identified primary climate-related environmental public health hazards for the region (extreme heat, drought, and flooding) and a suite of related exposure, health outcome, population vulnerability, and environmental vulnerability indicators. Indicators that performed more poorly at the county level than at the state and national level were defined as "high vulnerability." Six to eight high vulnerability indicators were identified for each county. The local health department plans to use the results to enhance three key areas of existing services: epidemiology, public health preparedness, and community health assessment.
气候变化对人群健康构成了重大且日益增长的威胁。农村地区面临着独特的挑战，比如弱势群体比例高；由于依赖易受气候变化影响的产业而导致经济不稳定；基础设施的复原力较弱；以及与城市地区相比，获得社区和应急服务的机会较少。本文通过为农村地区的一个地方公共卫生部门制定气候与健康环境公共卫生指标，填补了公共卫生实践中的一项空白。我们将国家环境公共卫生跟踪网络的气候与健康指标框架应用于肯塔基州西部的一个七县卫生部门。通过一个三步审查过程，我们确定了该地区与气候相关的主要环境公共卫生危害（极端高温、干旱和洪水）以及一系列相关的暴露、健康结果、人群脆弱性和环境脆弱性指标。在县级层面表现比州和国家层面更差的指标被定义为“高脆弱性”指标。每个县确定了6至8个高脆弱性指标。当地卫生部门计划利用这些结果来加强现有服务的三个关键领域：流行病学、公共卫生防备和社区健康评估。
