Abstract
Government officials, health professionals, and other decision makers are tasked with characterizing vulnerability and understanding how populations experience risks associated with exposure to climate-related hazards. Spatial analyses of vulnerable locations have given rise to climate change vulnerability mapping. While not a new concept, the spatial analyses of specific health outcomes remain limited. This review explores different methodologies and data that are used to assess vulnerability and map population health impacts to climate hazards. The review retrieved scholarly articles and governmental reports concerning vulnerability mapping of human health to the impacts of climate change in the United States, published in the last decade. After review, 37 studies were selected for inclusion. Climate-related exposures were distributed across four main categories, including: high ambient temperatures; flood hazards; vector-borne diseases; and wildfires. A number of different methodologies and measures were used to assess health vulnerability to climate-related hazards, including heat vulnerability indices and regression analyses. Vulnerability maps should exemplify how variables measuring the sensitivity and adaptive capacity of different populations help to determine the potential for climate-related hazards to have an effect on human health. Recommendations address methodologies, data gaps, and communication to assist researchers and stakeholders in directing adaptations to their most efficient and effective use.
Highlights
Key to the concept of vulnerability is developing an understanding of how populations experience health related impacts due to climate change
This review focuses on health and how it is affected by climate change through examining the use of vulnerability mapping to assess exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity and visualize how population health may be impacted by climate-related hazards
If the frequency and intensity of extreme events associated with climate change continue to increase, describing and quantifying vulnerable populations, those who experience an undue burden to health, will be especially important for identifying and adopting future adaptation strategies
Summary
Key to the concept of vulnerability is developing an understanding of how populations experience health related impacts due to climate change. Some definitions of vulnerability only examine causal mechanisms to identify vulnerable populations (e.g., exposure to extreme heat) while others incorporate ideas of coping, mitigation, and recovery. Blaikie et al [1] defines vulnerability as, “the characteristics of a person or group and their situation that influence their capacity to anticipate, cope with, resist and recover from the impact of a natural hazard”. The IPCC concludes that vulnerability to climate change will encompass certain factors, including exposure, susceptibility or sensitivity to an event, and the ability (or lack thereof) to improve the adaptive capacity of a response to identified risks to human health [2]
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