Methods of assessing human health vulnerability and public health adaptation to climate change

The fact that the climate is changing has become increasingly clear over the past decade. Recent evidence suggests that the associated changes in temperature and precipitation already adversely affect population health. In response to these changing risks, the Third Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health in London in 1999 recommended that countries develop the capacity to undertake national assessments of the potential health effects of climate variability and change. This publication addresses this need by providing practical information to governments, health agencies, and environmental and meteorological institutions, in both industrialized and developing countries, on quantitative and qualitative methods of assessing the vulnerability of human health and the adaptation of public health to climate change.