Public Health Leaders Unveil Blueprint for Tackling Climate Change

Landmark Document Represents Emerging Consensus of Top Health and Climate
Experts, Includes Recommendations for Health Professionals and the Public

WASHINGTON, March 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Public Health
Association (APHA) today unveiled its first-ever blueprint for combating the
health impacts of climate change, representing the culmination of a process
involving some of the nation's leading public health and climate change
experts. The blueprint will receive nationwide attention in the coming weeks
as 50,000 members of APHA and its Affiliates along with its many partners
celebrate National Public Health Week 2008, April 7-13, with the theme Climate
Change: Our Health in the Balance.

"Public health professionals are uniquely positioned to lead the way in
addressing the health impacts of climate change," said Georges Benjamin, MD,
FACP, FACEP (E), executive director of APHA. "They can help make real progress
by emphasizing preparedness, prevention, research, partnerships and policy.
This blueprint for tackling climate change is a concrete step toward that
goal."

"Global warming could be one of the top challenges facing the public health
community today," said former U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher, MD, PhD, who
is the director of the Center for Excellence on Health Disparities at
Morehouse School of Medicine and director of the Satcher Health Leadership
Institute. "It presents challenges nearly unprecedented in scope, scale and
difficulty - especially when it comes to our most vulnerable populations, who
are the most at risk. We must respond accordingly."

The blueprint, which includes recommendations for both health professionals
and the public, was developed through a collaborative process that culminated
in a recent summit convened by APHA that included health and climate change
experts from around the country. It was unveiled as part of the Association of
Health Care Journalists annual conference.

The blueprint's top recommendations for the public health community call for:

-- Education and outreach, working to ensure that public health concerns are
included in policies and programs related to climate change;

-- Research such as vulnerability assessments for specific communities and
federally funded analyses of how the health impacts vary by region and
population;

-- Advocacy, including helping decision makers understand the climate-health
connection and strengthening the capacity of the public health work force to
prepare and respond;

-- Support of best practices that build on existing public health programs
that can help address climate change and that promote the development of
healthy communities; and

-- Healthy behaviors such as helping the public health system go green, and
walking or biking instead of driving a car, and reducing, reusing and
recycling.

"The public health community has an important role to play in making the
connection between the way we lead our lives, our impact on the planet and the
planet's impact on our health," said Edward Maibach, PhD, professor and
director of the Center of Excellence in Climate Change Communication Research
at George Mason University. "This blueprint makes that connection crystal
clear. It includes concrete recommendations to help health professionals face
this unprecedented challenge."

Recommendations for the public are outlined as part of a Healthy Climate
Pledge that individuals around the country will commit to during National
Public Health Week and beyond, which urge the public to be prepared, travel
differently, eat differently, and green their work and home.

To download the blueprint and Healthy Climate Pledge and to learn more about
National Public Health Week 2008, visit www.nphw.org.

Founded in 1872, APHA is the oldest and most diverse organization of public
health professionals in the world. The Association aims to protect all
Americans and their communities from preventable, serious health threats and
strives to assure community-based health promotion and disease prevention
activities and preventive health services are universally accessible in the
United States. APHA represents a broad array of health providers, educators,
environmentalists, policy-makers and health officials at all levels working
both within and outside governmental organizations and educational
institutions. More information is available at www.apha.org.

SOURCE American Public Health Association

David Fouse of APHA, +1-202-262-5417; or Joel Finkelstein, +1-202-285-0113, or
Kate Geller, +1-516-446-9703, both for APHA