Public Health Corner: January 2025
Welcome to the Public Health Corner, a quarterly section in the Southwest Climate Outlook dedicated to exploring the intersection between climate change and public health in Arizona and New Mexico! In the Public Health Corner, we will dive into various ways in which climate influences our SW communities’ health and explore strategies to mitigate and adapt to these challenges.
With the recent news of the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles earlier this year, this quarter we focus on the impacts of wildfire on health in Arizona and New Mexico. Well established are the effects of smoke from wildfires exacerbating chronic respiratory conditions. The US Air Quality Index website has local conditions, and most weather applications on phones integrate air quality into daily weather as well. However, smoke from wildfires occurring at the wildland-urban interface, which often burn structures, have been shown to emit toxic organic compounds. There is still a lot to learn about the health effects of what burns during a fire.
One health effect that may be strongly influenced by what burned is cardiovascular health. Studies looking into whether cardiovascular hospital visits increase during fires have shown inconsistent results – leaving the question, does wildfire influence cardiovascular health? Since we last updated you on CLIMAS wildfire projects in August 2023, CLIMAS researchers have been researching whether the effect of wildfire on cardiovascular health depends on what burns. Preliminary results identify a greater risk of certain cardiovascular health conditions when fires burn peat or industrial areas compared to natural sources (e.g. forest, brush, vegetation). To help health departments respond to the increasing likelihood of regional wildfire activity, CLIMAS researchers met with health department, fire, and emergency management partners in Arizona and New Mexico. These conversations revealed best practices including: the importance of clear and consistent messaging, the roles as trusted community partners connecting people to resources rather than providers of ‘stuff’, and cross-sectoral collaboration and flexibility to support capacity. Keep an eye out for these publications in 2025.
Wondering what you can do to be sure you’re prepared if a wildfire happened in your area?
The International Association of Fire Chiefs manage the Ready, Set Go program to help residents prepare for wildfire – Check out the Arizona and New Mexico specific websites for Ready, Set Go!
Join us next quarter in the Public Health Corner as we dive into another climate associated health impact in Arizona and New Mexico, and discover ways we can all work together to create a healthier and more resilient future.
ArcGIS maps to use:
Arizona EPHT Explorer for age adjusted rates per 100K asthma ED visits (most recent is 2022)
New Mexico Environment Public Health Tracker Query Results for - Asthma ED Visit Age-adjusted Rates Per 10,000 Population