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Climate Change, Environmental Disasters, and Health Inequities: The Underlying Role of Structural Inequalities

  • Environmental Disasters (D Sandler and A Miller, Section Editors)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

We review and analyze recent literature in public health, urban planning, and disaster management to better understand the relationships between climate change, natural disasters, and root causes of health disparities in the USA.

Recent Findings

Existing scholarship establishes clear linkages between climate change and increasing occurrences and severity of natural disasters across the USA. The frequency and types of disasters vary by region and impact both short and long-term health outcomes. Current research highlights health inequities affecting lower income and minoritized communities disproportionately, but data-driven studies critically examining the role of structural inequalities in climate-induced health disparities are sparse.

Summary

Adding to the body of knowledge, our conceptual framework maps how long-standing structural inequalities in policy, practice, and funding shape vulnerability of lower-income, racially and ethnically marginalized individuals. Vulnerability follows three common pathways: disparities in “exposure”, “sensitivity”, and “resiliency” before, during, and after a climate disaster. We recommend that future research, policy, and practice shift towards solutions that unearth and address the structural biases that cause environmental disaster and health inequities.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions [U54MD000214] and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Training Grant [T32ES007141].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe St., Room W-7513D, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

    Genee S. Smith & L. Deanes

  2. Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Genee S. Smith

  3. University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    E. Anjum & C. Acey

  4. Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Johns Hopkins University Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Baltimore, MD, USA

    C. Francis

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  1. Genee S. Smith
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Correspondence to Genee S. Smith.

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Smith, G.S., Anjum, E., Francis, C. et al. Climate Change, Environmental Disasters, and Health Inequities: The Underlying Role of Structural Inequalities. Curr Envir Health Rpt 9, 80–89 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-022-00336-w

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