Many of our students attended this year’s meeting of the American Public Health Association (APHA), held in Atlanta, November 4 – 8. What follows is a post from one of these attendees.
By Grace Saul, BA
For me, the 2017 meeting of the American Public Health Association (APHA) showcased what I consider to be some of the public health field’s greatest strengths: a firm grounding in the understanding that human health is organically tied to the environment, and an unwavering commitment to the use of scientific evidence for advancing health outcomes for all, even—and especially—through turbulent political times. Less than six months after the Trump Administration’s decision to withdraw the US from the Paris climate accord, the APHA used its platform to gather the public health community behind a powerful theme: Climate Changes Health. Throughout my time at the conference, I was struck by how seamlessly professionals from a vast array of sub-disciplines were able to relate their work to climate change and to demonstrate the need for bold and immediate action to combat this critical threat to population health.
A memorable session I attended at APHA addressed the alarming and disproportionate threat that climate change poses to the health of women and girls. Early evidence of climate change’s impact on female populations in the US suggests that increased exposures to air pollution, extreme heat, droughts, stagnant waters, and particulate matter from wildfires are associated with increased incidence of asthma, coccidioidomycosis, chronic stress, preterm birth, low birthweight, stillbirth, Zika infection, birth defects, infant death, GI infection, lung cancer, other respiratory problems, heart disease, and hypertension. Furthermore, these impacts are compounded by the potential indirect effects of climate change, such as increased economic vulnerability and/or displacement and increased vulnerability to gendered violence, sex trafficking, and other forms of exploitation. One presenter was a former obstetrician-gynecologist who left his practice after 26 years to focus full-time on climate change advocacy. He described climate change as a “medical emergency” and explained that he focused his research solely on evidence within the US in an attempt to drive home the point that climate change must be taken seriously, here and now.
Throughout my time at APHA, a sobering reminder pronounced in the opening session echoed in my mind: We are the first generation that will see the devastating impacts of climate change, and the last that will be able to do anything about it. It was illuminating to see how many issues are fundamentally tied to climate change and motivating to witness the American public health community collectively commit to facing this immense threat head-on. I hope that as we return to our respective work on the issues we care most about individually, that we keep this big-picture message in mind and do everything in our collective power to forcefully push for climate action now, before it is too late.
Grace Saul is a second-year MPH student, concentrating in Maternal and Child Health. She holds a bachelor’s degree in International Development Studies from McGill University and has previously worked in research, monitoring & evaluation, and non-profit program development in Canada, the US, and Senegal. Her interests include women’s health, sexual and reproductive health and justice, immigrant and refugee health, social norms theory, and health equity. She loves mountains, dogs, cities, maps, languages, and the arts.
