Abstracts
Your Health and a Changing Climate: A Risk Management Toolkit for Public Health Professionals
Peter Berry1 and Jacinthe Seguin
1Health Canada
Peter_Berry@hc-sc.gc.ca
It is very important to not only acquire, through scientific research, knowledge of the impacts of climate change on human health, but also to disseminate this knowledge to appropriate decision makers so effective adaptation can take place. The Climate Change and Health Office at Health Canada has developed a toolkit containing timely, credible information about the health impacts of climate change for use by public health decision-makers across Canada. Much of the drafting and managing of the adaptation policies, strategies and programs that will help to protect the health of Canadians in the face of climate change will fall to health decision-makers in the provincial/territorial ministries of health and municipal/regional public health departments. The actual delivery of these programs will be done by those who work on the front lines of health protection in this country, namely, health care professionals and regional/municipal medical officers of health. This information will encourage them to begin incorporating considerations of the health impacts of climate change into their long-term plans and strategies. The Toolkit is designed to be both an information resource and a set of communication tools to provide public health professionals with a one-stop information portal to useful information on climate change and health.
This session will introduce the components of the toolkit, the rationale behind its development, and the practical applications of its contents.
2005-04-05 |
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