Increased Environmental Impacts on Human Health in a Changing Climate!

My vision for DailyBreath emerged in late 2015 and early 2016 as I realized environmental factors as a determinant of health were becoming a greater threat in a changing climate, and especially for those with respiratory conditions.  As I worked towards executing a prototype, I became aware of the groundbreaking 2016 Impacts on Climate Change and Human Health report.  This report was an output of the 4th National Climate Assessment produced by the US Global Change Research Program. (www.globalchange.gov)      

 Its key findings fit perfectly into the vision that I began to see for a platform dedicated to delivering personalized environmental insights for better asthma outcomes. In Chapter 3, Air Quality Impacts, 3 key findings provided the evidence that climate change would have an increasing impact on air quality.  It stated that climate change would;

  1. exacerbate ozone impacts on health,

  2. increase smoke impacts on health because of wildfires,

  3. worsen allergy and asthma conditions; whether because of increased heat, changing precipitation patterns, or increasing CO2 contributing to increased impact of airborne allergens.

 And, in Chapter 9, Population of Concerns, the report framed the risk of climate change impacts in the context of vulnerable populations.

Key Finding #1 - People and Communities differ in their exposure, inherent sensitivity, and their adaptive capacity to respond to climate change related health threats.  Vulnerability to climate change varies across time and location, across communities, and among individuals in communities.  With individuals with respiratory conditions particularly vulnerable.

Key Finding #2 - People experience different inherent sensitivities at different ages and life stages.

Key Finding #3 - Climate change threatens the health of people by affecting exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity.  Social determinants of health may amplify, moderate, or otherwise influence health effects, particularly when these factors occur simultaneously or close in time or space.

Key Finding #4 is the Use of Geographic Data and Tools Allows for more Sophisticated Mapping of Risk Factors and Social Vulnerabilities to Identify and Protect Specific Locations and Groups of People.

These key findings have formed the approach that I developed for a DailyBreath Forecast, the DailyBreath Risk Index, and a goal of creating personalized symptom forecast based on real world evidence of a personal correlation of symptoms with the environmental conditions represented by a confluence of the weather, allergens, and irritant (pollution) exposures at a particular time and place.  

DailyBreath is an example of Key Finding #4, a Tool and the Use of Geographic Data that allows for sophisticated mapping of risk factors and social vulnerability to identify and protect individuals, vulnerable populations, and communities at large.  Download DailyBreath by texting DB4CAST to 72345 to be part of this unique innovation and community.