Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T06:43:30.694Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Public Health Policy Actions to Address Health Issues Associated with Drought in a Changing Climate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2021

Rachel E. Lookadoo  and
Jesse E. Bell
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Over the last century, droughts have caused more deaths internationally than any other weather- or climate-related disaster. Like other natural disasters, droughts cause significant changes in the environment that can lead to negative health outcomes. As droughts are becoming more frequent and intense with climate change, public health systems need to address impacts associated with these events. Partnering with federal and local entities, we evaluated the state of knowledge of drought and health in the United States through a National Drought and Public Health Summit and a series of subsequent regional workshops. The intended outcome was to develop public health strategies for implementing activities to better support and prepare public health systems for future droughts. The information gathered from this work identified multiple policy and law options to address the public health issues associated with drought. These policy recommendations include the use of public health emergency declarations for drought events, increased usage of preparedness evaluations for drought emergencies, and engagement of drought and climate experts in state and local risk assessments. As drought events are projected to increase in frequency and magnitude with climate change, taking policy action now will help decrease the health impacts of drought and save lives.

Type
Symposium Articles
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 48 , Issue 4: Climate Change and the Legal, Ethical, and Health Issues Facing Healthcare and Public Health Systems , Winter 2020 , pp. 653 - 663
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bell, J.E., Herring, S.C., Jantarasami, L., Adrianopoli, C., Benedict, K., Conlon, K., Escobar, V., Hess, J., Luvall, J., Garcia-Pando, C.P., Quattrochi, D., Runkle, J., and Schreck, C., “Impacts of Extreme Events on Human Health,” The Impact-sof Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment (Washington, DC: U.S. Global Change Research Program 2016).Google Scholar
Bell, J.E., Brown, C.L., Conlon, K., Herring, S., Kunkel, K.E., Lawrimore, J., Luber, G., Schreck, C., Smith, A., and Uejio, C., “Changes in Extreme Events and the Potential Impacts on Human Health,” Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association 68, no. 4 (2018): 265–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
NOAA (August 10, 2020), Definition of Drought, available at <https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/monitoring-references/dyk/drought-definition> (last visited September 30, 2020)+(last+visited+September+30,+2020)>Google Scholar
Bell, J.E., Brown, C.L., Conlon, K., Herring, S., Kunkel, K.E., Lawrimore, J., Luber, G., Schreck, C., Smith, A., and Uejio, C., “Changes in Extreme Events and the Potential Impacts on Human Health,” Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association 68, no. 4 (2018): 265–287.Google Scholar
Masson-Delmotte, T.W.V., Zhai, P., Pörtner, H.O., Roberts, D., Skea, J., Shukla, P.R., Pirani, A., Moufouma-Okia, W., Péan, C., Pidcock, R., and Connors, S., IPCC, 2018: Summary for Policy-makers. In: Global warming of 1.5 C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global, World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, Tech. Rep. (2018); Trenberth, K.E., Dai, A., Van Der Schrier, G., Jones, P.D., Barichivich, J., Briffa, K.R., and Sheffield, J., “Global Warming and Changes in Drought,” Nature Climate Change 4, no. 1 (2014): 17–22.Google Scholar
Melillo, J.M., Richmond, T.T., and Yohe, G., “Climate Change impacts in the United States,” in The Third National Climate Assessment (Washington, DC: US Global Change Research Program 2014).Google Scholar
Vaughan, D.G., Comiso, J.C., Allison, I., Carrasco, J., Kaser, G., Kwok, R., Mote, P., Murray, T., Paul, F., and Ren, J., “Observations: Cryosphere,” Climate Change 2103 (2013): 317–382.Google Scholar
Fosu, B.O., Wang, S.Y. Simon, and Yoon, J.H., “The 2014/15 Snowpack Drought in Washington State and its Climate Forcing,” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 97, no. 12 (2016): S19–S24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2014–Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability: Regional Aspects (2014); Maupin, M.A., Kenny, J.F., Hutson, S.S., Lovelace, J.K., Barber, N.L., and Linsey, K.S., Estimated use of water in the United States in 2010, US Geological Survey (2014).Google Scholar
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters, available at <https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/> (last visited June 30,2020).+(last+visited+June+30,2020).>Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
National Drought Mitigation Center, Drought in the Dust Bowl Years, available at <https://drought.unl.edu/dustbowl/Home.aspx> (last visited June 30, 2020); McLeman, R.A., Dupre, J., Ford, L. Berrang, Ford, J., Gajewski, K., and Marchildon, G., “What We Learned from the Dust Bowl: Lessons in Science, Policy, and Adaptation,” Population and Environment 35, no. 4 (2014): 417–440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Drought Mitigation Center, Drought in the Dust Bowl Years, available at <https://drought.unl.edu/dustbowl/Home.aspx> (last visited June 30, 2020).; US Inflation Calculator website, available at <http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/> (last visited June 30, 2020); Warrick, R.A., “Drought in the Great Plains: A Case Study of Research on Climate and Society in the USA,” Climatic Constraints and Human Activities 10 (1980): 93–123.Google Scholar
Gregory, J.N., American Exodus: The Dust Bowl Migration and Okie Culture in California (USA: Oxford University Press, 1991); Hansen, Z.K. and Libecap, G., “Small Farms, Externalities, and the Dust Bowl of the 1930s,” Journal of Political Economy 112, no. 3 (2004): 665–694; McLeman, R., “Migration Out of 1930s Rural Eastern Oklahoma: Insights for Climate Change Research,” Great Plains Quarterly 26, no. 1 (2006): 27–40.Google Scholar
National Drought Mitigation Center, Drought in the Dust Bowl Years, available at <https://drought.unl.edu/dustbowl/Home.aspx> (last visited June 30, 2020).+(last+visited+June+30,+2020).>Google Scholar
US Inflation Calculator website, available at <http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/> (last visited June 30, 2020); NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters, available at <https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/> (last visited June 30, 2020).+(last+visited+June+30,+2020);+NOAA+National+Centers+for+Environmental+Information+(NCEI),+U.S.+Billion-Dollar+Weather+and+Climate+Disasters,+available+at++(last+visited+June+30,+2020).>Google Scholar
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters, available at <https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/> (last visited June 30, 2020); Soulé, P.T. and Meentemeyer, V., “The Drought of 1988: Historical Rank and Recurrence Interval,” Southeastern Geographer 29, no. 1 (1989): 17–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters, available at <https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/> (last visited June 30, 2020); NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) State of the Climate: Drought - Annual 2012, available at <http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/drought/201213> (last visited June 30, 2020); U.S. Drought Monitor, Map Archive, available at <https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/maps/maparchive.aspx> (last visited June 30, 2020).+(last+visited+June+30,+2020);+NOAA+National+Centers+for+Environmental+Information+(NCEI)+State+of+the+Climate:+Drought+-+Annual+2012,+available+at++(last+visited+June+30,+2020);+U.S.+Drought+Monitor,+Map+Archive,+available+at++(last+visited+June+30,+2020).>Google Scholar
U.S. Drought Monitor, United States Drought Monitor web-site, available at <http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu> (last visited June 30, 2020); NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters, available at <https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/> (last visited June 30, 2020).+(last+visited+June+30,+2020);+NOAA+National+Centers+for+Environmental+Information+(NCEI),+U.S.+Billion-Dollar+Weather+and+Climate+Disasters,+available+at++(last+visited+June+30,+2020).>Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Smith, A.B. and Matthews, J.L., “Quantifying Uncertainty and Variable Sensitivity within the US Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disaster Cost Estimates,” Natural Hazards 77, no. 3 (2015): 1829–1851; Williams, A.P., Seager, R., Abatzoglou, J.T., Cook, B.I., Smerdon, J.E., and Cook, E.R., “Contribution of Anthropogenic Warming to California Drought During 2012–2014,” Geophysical Research Letters 42, no. 16 (2015): 6819–6828; Griffin, D. and Anchukaitis, K.J., “How Unusual is the 2012–2014 California Drought?” Geophysical Research Letters 41, no. 24 (2014): 9017–9023.Google Scholar
Melillo, J.M., Richmond, T.T., and Yohe, G., “Climate Change Impacts in the United States,” Third National Climate Assessment 52 (2014); USGCRP, US, “Global Change Research Program,” Climate Science Special Report: Fourth National Climate Assessment 1 (2009).Google Scholar
Tong, D.Q., Wang, J. X.L., Gill, T. E., Lei, H., and Wang, B., “Intensified Dust Storm Activity and Valley Fever Infection in the Southwestern United States,” Geophysical Research Letters 44, no. 9 (2017): 4304–4312.Google Scholar
Malik, S., Awan, H., and Khan, N., “Mapping Vulnerability to Climate Change and its Repercussions on Human Health in Pakistan,” Globalization and Health 8, no. 1 (2012): 31; Stanke, C., Kerac, M., Prudhomme, C., Medlock, J., and Murray, V., “Health Effects of Drought: A Systematic Review of the Evidence,” PLoS Currents 5 (2013); Sena, A., Barcellos, C., Freitas, C., and Corvalan, C., “Managing the Health Impacts of Drought in Brazil,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 11, no. 10 (2014): 10737–10751; Yusa, A., Berry, P., Cheng, J. J., Ogden, N., Bonsal, B., Stewart, R., and Waldick, R., “Climate Change, Drought and Human Health in Canada,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 12, no. 7 (2015): 8359–8412; Shriber, J., Conlon, K., Benedict, K., Mccotter, O., and Bell, J., “Assessment of Vulnerability to Coccidioidomycosis in Arizona and California,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 14, no. 7 (2017): 680.Google Scholar
Berman, J. D., Ebisu, K., Peng, R.D., Dominici, F., and Bell, M.L., “Drought and the Risk of Hospital Admissions and Mortality in Older Adults in Western USA from 2000 to 2013: A Retrospective Study,” The Lancet Planetary Health 1, no. 1 (2017): e17–e25.Google Scholar
Lynch, K.M., Lyles, R.H., Waller, L.A., Abadi, A.M., Bell, J.E., and Gribble, M.O., “Drought Severity and All-Cause Mortality Rates Among Adults in the United States: 1968–2014,” Environmental Health 19 (2020): 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention et al., When Every Drop Counts: Protecting Public Health During Drought Conditions — A Guide for Public Health Professionals (2010).Google Scholar
Yusa, A., Berry, P., cheng, J. J., Ogden, N., Bonsal, B., Stewart, R., and Waldick, R., “Climate Change, Drought and Human Health in Canada,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 12, no. 7 (2015): 8359–8412; Berman, J. D., Ebisu, K., Peng, R.D., Dominici, F., and Bell, M.L., “Drought and the Risk of Hospital Admissions and Mortality in Older Adults in Western USA from 2000 to 2013: A Retrospective Study,” The Lancet Planetary Health 1, no. 1 (2017): e17–e25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Notes from the Field: Carbon Monoxide Exposures Reported to Poison Centers and Related to Hurricane Sandy-Northeastern United States, 2012,” MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 61, no. 44 (2012): 905.Google Scholar
Vins, H., Bell, J., Saha, S., and Hess, J. J., “The Mental Health Outcomes of Drought: A Systematic Review and Causal Process Diagram,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 12, no. 10 (2015): 13251–13275; Hanigan, I.C., Butler, C.D., Kokic, P.N., and Hutchinson, M.F., “Suicide and Drought in New South Wales, Australia, 1970-2007,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2012).Google Scholar
Sena, A., Barcellos, C., Freitas, C., and Corvalan, C., “Managing the Health Impacts of Drought in Brazil,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 11, no. 10, (2014): 10737–10751.; Yusa, A., Berry, P., Cheng, J. J., Ogden, N., Bonsal, B., Stewart, R., and Waldick, R., “Climate Change, Drought and Human Health in Canada,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 12, no. 7 (2015): 8359–8412; McDonald, A., “Dried Up: Poverty in America’s Drought Lands,” available at <https://www.deseret-news.com/article/865605117/Dried-up-poverty-in-Americas-drought-lands.html> (last visited June 30, 2020).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
See CDC et al., supra note 26.Google Scholar
Schipper, L., and Pelling, M., “Disaster Risk, Climate Change and International Development: Scope for, and Challenges to, Integration,” Disasters 30, no. 1 (2006): 19–38.Google Scholar
50 U.S.C. §1621.(1976); 42 U.S.C. §5121-5207.(1988).Google Scholar
42 U.S.C. §247d. (2019).Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, Public Health Emergency Declarations, available at <https://www.phe.gov/emergency/news/healthactions/phe/Pages/default.aspx> (last visited June 30, 2020).+(last+visited+June+30,+2020).>Google Scholar
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, Determination that a Public Health Emergency Exists, available at <https://www.phe.gov/emergency/news/healthactions/phe/Pages/California-Wildfires-2018.aspx> (last visited August 10, 2020).+(last+visited+August+10,+2020).>Google Scholar
Liberto, T., “Hot, Dry Summer and Slow Start to Wet Season Primed California for November 2018 fires,” available at <https://www.climate.gov/news-features/event-tracker/hotdry-summer-and-slow-start-wet-season-primed-california-november-2018> (last visited August 10, 2020).+(last+visited+August+10,+2020).>Google Scholar
Federal Emergency Management Agency, Declared Disasters, available at <https://www.fema.gov/disasters/disaster-declarations> (last visited August 10, 2020).+(last+visited+August+10,+2020).>Google Scholar
Rutkow, L., Vernick, J.S., Gakh, M., Siegel, J., Thompson, C.B., and Barnett, D.J., “The Public Health Workforce and Willingness to Respond to Emergencies: A 50-State Analysis of Potentially Influential Laws,” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 42, no. 1 (2014): 64–71.Google Scholar
Rutkow, L. and Vernick, J. S., “Emergency Legal Authority and the Opioid Crisis,” New England Journal of Medicine 377, no. 26 (2017): 2512–2514.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id. at 2513.Google Scholar
See Rutkow et al., supra note 39 at 65.Google Scholar
See Rutkow and Vernick, supra note 40 at 2514.Google Scholar
Sunshine, G., Barrera, N., Corcoran, A.J., and Penn, M., “Emergency Declarations for Public Health Issues: Expanding Our Definition of Emergency,” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 47, no. 2 Supplement (2019): 95–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
State of Indiana Executive Order 17-13 (2017).Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Sunshine, G., Barrera, N., Corcoran, A.J., and Penn, M., “Emergency Declarations for Public Health Issues: Expanding Our Definition of Emergency,” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 47, 2 Supplement (2019): 95–99.Google Scholar
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2019-2024 Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) Notice of Funding Opportunity Supplemental Guidance and Resources, available at <https://www.cdc.gov/cpr/readiness/00_docs/PHEP_Supplemental_Guidance_At_A_Glance_UPDATED_5_22_2020.pdf> (last visited June 30, 2020).+(last+visited+June+30,+2020).>Google Scholar
Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, 2017-2022 Hospital Preparedness Program Performance Measures Implementation Guidance, available at <https://www.phe.gov/Preparedness/planning/hpp/reports/Documents/hpppmi-guidance-2017.pdf> (last visited June 30, 2020).+(last+visited+June+30,+2020).>Google Scholar
See CDC (2019) and ASPR (2017), supra note 46 and 47.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Keim, M.E., “Building Human Resilience: The Role of Public Health Preparedness and Response as an Adaptation to Climate Change,” American Journal of Preventive Medicine 35, no. 5 (2008): 508–516.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bayleyegn, T.M., Schnall, A.H., Ballou, S.G., Zane, D.F., Burrer, S.L., Noe, R.S., and Wolkin, A.F., “Use of Community Assessments for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPERs) to Rapidly Assess Public Health Issues — United States, 2003–2012,” Prehospital and Disaster Medicine 30, no. 4 (2015): 374–381.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Interactive Map of CASPERs, available at <https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/casper/casper_map.htm> (last visited June 30, 2020).+(last+visited+June+30,+2020).>Google Scholar
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPER) Toolkit, Third edition (2019).Google Scholar
42 U.S.C. §300hh (2019).Google Scholar
42 U.S.C. §300hh-1(b)(2)(E) (2019).Google Scholar
42 U.S.C. §300hh-10b-10d (2019).Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Lynch, K.M., Lyles, R.H., Waller, L.A., Abadi, A.M., Bell, J.E., and Gribble, M.O., “Drought severity and all-cause mortality rates among adults in the United States: 1968–2014,” Environmental Health 19 (2020): 1–14; Yusa, A., Berry, P., cheng, J. J., Ogden, N., Bonsal, B., Stewart, R., and Waldick, R., “Climate Change, Drought and Human Health in Canada,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 12, no. 7 (2015): 8359–8412; Berman, J. D., Ebisu, K., Peng, R.D., Dominici, F., and Bell, M.L., “Drought and the Risk of Hospital Admissions and Mortality in Older Adults in Western USA from 2000 to 2013: A Retrospective Study,” The Lancet Planetary Health 1, no. 1 (2017): e17–e25.Google Scholar