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NORC at the University Chicago

Supporting Health Departments to Address Climate & Health

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Creating and offering in-person training and technical assistance to health department staff
  • Client
    CDC Foundation
  • Dates
    March 2024 – July 2024

Problem

Health departments nationwide need help addressing climate change’s health impacts.

While there is some general guidance available, there are very few trainings that provide clear, actionable steps that state, tribal, local, and territorial (STLT) health organizations can take to integrate the effects of climate change into their work. The CDC Foundation sought to fill this gap, by developing a flexible training tailored to any public health professional working in a STLT health department.

However, making training available does not necessarily mean that busy health department staff will know it exists, have the time to take it, or be able to implement the recommended actions. That is why the CDC Foundation also sought help training STLT staff to use the course.

Solution

NORC developed a training course and provided technical assistance. 

In conjunction with the CDC and CDC Foundation, NORC developed Climate and Health: A Training for Health Department Staff, a four-module online course that focuses on ways climate change impacts health and demonstrates how to integrate climate change considerations into existing public health work. The course lives on CDC TRAIN—CDC’s free online learning system—and includes an introduction to climate change and its health impacts, approaches for integrating climate into health department activities, and multiple resources.

To ensure that public health professionals knew about the course and its uses, we provided on-site training and technical assistance (TA) to select health departments, followed by monthly virtual check-ins. Our sessions included:

  • Gathering and analyzing local climate and health data
  • Brainstorming program ideas
  • Assisting with developing a local project plan
  • Outlining best practices in climate and health work
  • Identifying potential partnerships to tackle climate change impacts 
  • Exploring approaches to communicating about climate and health within the local context

Result

Health departments can better prepare for climate-change impacts on health using these training materials.

Feedback from our on-site training and TA sessions suggests that tailored TA from an external facilitator is valuable to health department staff as they prepare for climate change’s effects on health.  

In particular, participating STLT departments report that in-person sessions which require dedicating time to gather, brainstorm, and plan, have the added benefit of increasing staff motivation, not just capacity, to move the work forward.  

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