Climate Change and Health

Figure 2

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites - NC
Janet L. Gamble, Allison Crimmins, John Balbus

This figure appears in chapter executive-summary of the The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment report.

Conceptual diagram illustrating the exposure pathways by which climate change affects human health. Here, the center boxes list some selected examples of the kinds of changes in climate drivers, exposure, and health outcomes explored in this report. Exposure pathways exist within the context of other factors that positively or negatively influence health outcomes (gray side boxes). Some of the key factors that influence vulnerability for individuals are shown in the right box, and include social determinants of health and behavioral choices. Some key factors that influence vulnerability at larger scales, such as natural and built environments, governance and management, and institutions, are shown in the left box. All of these influencing factors can affect an individual’s or a community’s vulnerability through changes in exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity and may also be affected by climate change.

Free to use with credit to the original figure source.

This figure was created on October 10, 2014.