Urban Health Collaborative

Climate change has broad and complex impacts on people’s health, from extreme heat and natural disasters to disruption of food and financial systems.

Marginalized communities are more likely to live in places at high-risk of experiencing climate disasters.

Similarly, individuals from marginalized communities are more likely to experience negative health impacts in the aftermath of these disasters.

Urban areas face the dual challenges of large social inequalities that influence who does and who does not live in healthy environments, and specific climate risks, such as extreme heat, that can be made worse by the urban environment. Understanding how climate change contributes to health disparities in cities is critical to developing urban interventions and climate adaptation actions that minimize the health impacts of climate change.

How Does Climate Change Relate to Health Equity?

Researchers at the Drexel Urban Health Collaborative understand that urban areas are facing dual challenges:

• Large social inequalities that influence who does and who does not live in healthy environments, and
• Specific climate risks, such as extreme heat, that can be made worse by the urban environment.

Understanding how climate change contributes to health disparities in cities is critical to developing urban interventions and climate adaptation actions that minimize the health impacts of climate change.

Learn more about climate change programs here at the Urban Health Collaborative and around Drexel University: