Grantee Research Project Results
2024 Progress Report: Leveraging Community Knowledge to Understand and Map the health impacts of cumulative environmental exposures and social vulnerability in the context of climate change
EPA Grant Number: R840485Title: Leveraging Community Knowledge to Understand and Map the health impacts of cumulative environmental exposures and social vulnerability in the context of climate change
Investigators: Hassan, Saria , Saikawa, Eri
Institution: Emory University School of Medicine , Emory University
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Project Period: September 1, 2022 through May 9, 2025
Project Period Covered by this Report: September 1, 2023 through August 31,2024
Project Amount: $1,349,998
RFA: Cumulative Health Impacts at the Intersection of Climate Change, Environmental Justice, and Vulnerable Populations/Lifestages: Community-Based Research for Solutions (2021) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Watersheds , Endocrine Disruptors , Environmental Justice , Human Health
Objective:
The goal of this project is to understand how the cumulative health impact of chemical and nonchemical exposures is exacerbated by climate change among the most vulnerable communities in Atlanta. We achieve this goal through the following three objectives: 1. To create an index and map at the neighborhood level focused on the cumulative chemical and non-chemical exposure of individuals in Atlanta and how their health effects are exacerbated by climate change. Hypothesis: Climate change will increase flood frequency, PM2.5 and ozone concentrations, extreme heat days, and exposure to heavy metals/metalloids. 2. To understand how highly susceptible individuals with chronic disease perceive and manage the effects of chemical, non-chemical, and climate-related factors on their mental health, asthma, and obesity-sensitive conditions 3. To facilitate communitybased and community-led education initiatives to empower the community and increase resilience against climate change and its effects on health.
Progress Summary:
For each of the objectives of the study we have made significant progress and have preliminary accomplishments. We have further developed the cumulative health index incorporating the feedback and weighting of community members using participatory approaches. We have refined the maps for the relevant neighborhoods in Atlanta to understand variability in key climate, environmental, social, and health outcomes. We have also completed adaptation of the CitizensApp to incorporate feedback from the community and are now launching its implementation. Results from the CitizensApp will help further refine the cumulative health index. We have created beautifully complex causal loop diagrams that explain the intricate relationship between chemical and nonchemical stressors on priority health outcomes (obesity, asthma, mental health) and importantly how climate change exacerbates those relationships. We have used those causal loop diagrams to engage community members to identify priority solutions that will reduce the cumulative impact of chemical and nonchemical stressors on their health. We have successfully trained climate champions from nine vulnerable neighborhoods in the West and Southwest of Atlanta to raise awareness about climate change and health through community events in our target neighborhoods. We have completed a curriculum on climate change and health that mpowers community members to act against the cumulative risk posed by climate change, and chemical, and nonchemical stressors.
Future Activities:
We will move forward with development and testing of the cumulative health index. We will complete the implementation of the CItzensApp, summarize collected data, and integrate it into the cumulative health index. We will disseminate the findings from the group model building, the causal loop diagrams, and the identified solutions through the neighborhood planning units of our partner neighborhoods. We will also launch a small community grant program to allow community members an opportunity to implement priority solutions. We will complete our community outreach events in partnership with the HEALing Center and their mobile van. We will close out with a dissemination event that charts a way forward for the program and the engaged communities.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 4 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
air, water, soil, global climate, exposure, risk, health effects, vulnerability, cumulative effects, chemicals, community-based, EPA Region 4Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.