National Institutes of Health

Biden Administration (2021-2025)

Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Implementation Science for Climate Change and Health

On November 14, 2024, 12 Institutes/Centers within NIH issued a Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) informing potential applicants of the NIH Climate Change and Health Initiative’s interest in supporting implementation science related to climate change and health. The NOSI encouraged applications that propose implementation studies to understand and address barriers and facilitators to the adoption, implementation, scale-up, and sustainment of effective interventions to prevent or mitigate the health effects of climate change in the United States and globally. The NOSI said it would apply to application due dates on or after February 5, 2025, and subsequent receipt dates through January 7, 2028. The NOSI noted that the 2022 Strategic Framework had called for health intervention research and implementation science that provides the evidence base to guide implementation of timely, effective strategies to prevent disease and disability and promote health.

Climate Change and Health Initiative Strategic Framework

In February 2022, NIH released the Climate Change and Health Initiative Strategic Framework which provides the initial planning of how the NIH community will address climate change and health. The NIH Climate Change and Health Initiative is described as “an urgent, cross-cutting NIH effort to stimulate research to reduce health threats from climate change across the lifespan and build health resilience in individuals, communities, and nations around the world, especially among those at highest risk.” It coordinates research and activities related to the human health impacts of climate change that are supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). The program also coordinates climate change and health collaborations across NIH, NIEHS, and other federal agencies. It is led by an Executive Committee comprising the directors of several NIH Institutes and Centers. The NIEHS Director chairs the Executive Committee and NIEHS is the Initiative’s administrative home. NIH Institutes and Centers (IC) hosted a seminar series running from 2021 to early 2022 on climate change-related issues.

First Trump Administration (2017-2021)

N/A

Obama Administration (2009-2017)

Report on Research Needs on Human Health Effects of Climate Change

On April 22, 2010, Environmental Health Perspectives and NIEHS published “A Human Health Perspective on Climate Change: A Report Outlining the Research Needs on the Human Health Effects of Climate Change.” The report was prepared by the Interagency Working Group on Climate Change and Health, an ad hoc group formed by participating federal agencies and organizations at the invitation of NIEHS, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Environmental Protection Agency following a January 2009 “Workshop on a Research Agenda for Managing the Health Risks of Climate Change,” sponsored by the Institute of Medicine Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine. The report’s purpose was to identify research critical for understanding the impact of climate change on human health to facilitate mitigation of and adaptation to the environmental effects of climate change in the healthiest and most efficient ways, with a primary focus on the United States. The report was organized around 11 human health categories likely to be affected by climate change: (1) asthma, respiratory allergies, and airway diseases; (2) cancer; (3) cardiovascular disease and stroke; (4) foodborne diseases and nutrition; (5) heat-related morbidity and mortality; (6) human developmental effects; (7) mental health and stress-related disorders; (8) neurological diseases and disorders; (9) vectorborne and zoonotic diseases; (10) waterborne diseases; and (11) weather-related morbidity and mortality.