Why Climate and Global Health
The global climate is changing, with numerous and complex implications for health. Rising temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns, extreme weather events, and ecosystem disruption are reshaping disease dynamics, food security, water availability, and human well-being worldwide. Yet many of the health threats of climate change are poorly understood and remain on the margins of the global climate discourse.
The communities most vulnerable to climate-driven health impacts are often those with the fewest resources to adapt. Understanding these dynamics — and developing evidence-based strategies to address them — requires deeply interdisciplinary collaboration that bridges climate science, public health, ecology, data science, and the social sciences.
In recognition of this, the Duke Global Health Institute launched the Climate and Global Health Initiative (CGHI) to serve as an interdisciplinary hub for research, education, and action at the intersection of climate change and human health.
