Webinars

This webinar took place in English. Click here to acces the recording (English only).

This webinar was cohosted by the OPHA/alPHa Health Equity Workgroup, the OPHA Environmental Health Workgroup and the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health (NCCDH).

Climate change has a dramatic and real effect on population health. The risks and impact of climate change do not affect all segments of the population equally. Some groups that are already at a disadvantage due to structural inequities, such as those living with low income and inadequate housing, are more vulnerable and may have fewer resources to respond to the negative impacts of climate change on their physical and social environments.

For the same systemic reasons, marginalized populations are more likely to already have poorer health, thereby experiencing more severe negative health effects and weakened ability to recover from events related to climate change.

Climate change guide for local health departments

The goal of this webinar is to bring a public health voice to the issue of climate change, focusing particularly on the issue’s relationship to health equity at the local public health level. A recent document has been released through the Public Health Institute Center for Climate Change and Health and the American Public Health Association titled Climate change, health, and equity: A guide for local health departments.

This guide provides an overview of how climate change influences health, the equity perspective of specific climate change impacts, and core public health actions at the local level that integrate addressing climate change and population health inequities.

Listeners will learn about

• describing the effects of climate change on population health and health inequities;
• relating how existing public health programs can impact and be impacted by climate change; and
• identifying multisectoral approaches and core public health functions that relate to addressing health inequities impacted by climate change. 

Speakers

Dianne Oickle,  Knowledge Translation Specialist, NCCDH	Linda Rudolph, Director, Public Health Institute Center for Climate Change and Health
Monika Dutt, Medical Officer of Health and CEO, Timiskaming Health Unit	Helen Doyle, Chair, Ontario Public Health Association's Environmental Health Work Group

Resources

Climate change, health, and equity: A guide for local health departments (2018)	Learning from Practice: Advocacy for health equity - Environmental racism (2017)	Developing a health-focused communication strategy for climate messaging (2018)

Click here to access the webinar (English only).