Political and Legislative
A New Federal Office Is Being Created to Treat Climate Change as a Health Issue
The federal health department is creating a new office to address climate change as a public health issue, in an effort to tie growing environmental concerns to the administration’s broader health equity agenda.
The Office of Climate Change and Health Equity will take a wide-ranging approach to evaluating the impact that the warming planet is having on people’s health, including initiatives aimed at reducing health providers’ carbon emissions and expanding protections to the most vulnerable populations.
Senior National Institutes of Health official John Balbus will run the office on an interim basis, with plans to house it within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health.
