The issues surrounding the Earth’s changing climate and the problems they may cause are rarely out of the news these days. But according to Kristie Ebi, who is a University of Michigan-trained epidemiologist and expert on climate change and public health, not enough time and money is being spent on researching the impact that global climate change is having, and will have in the future, on general public health.

Ebi undertook the writing of the educational article after being involved in a research study that was actually ordered by the US Congress ,that was commissioned to assess the impact of climate change on health. During the course of that work, and her preparations to address congressional hearings on the subject she realized that the US were providing very little in the way of funding to examine what she and her colleagues see as a major threat to the health and safety of people all over the world.

Currently the Federal government provides about $3 million per year for researchers to study the problem but Ebi and her colleagues say that figure needs to be much higher, in fact about $197 million higher, in order for any really effective work to completed.

Global climate change is already expected to impact a number of areas related to general public health. Increases in the number of deaths from heat related diseases, diarrheal diseases caused by contaminated food and water, and diseases related to increased allergen and ozone exposure all scenarios that scientists and researchers have already warned about.

According to Mark Wilson, a coauthor on the report the problem is more serious than the general public realizes. “Even disease distributions are likely to change,” he says, “Certain areas of the world could become more favorable for transmission of various infectious diseases that are associated with water, insect vectors, or non-human animal reservoirs.”

According to this articles authors the type of research being undertaken needs to switch focus. Instead of just focusing on certain aspects of climate change related disease, such as the occurrence of skin cancer related to sun exposure, and be extended to working with affected communities and trying to figure out a real plan to tackle some of the difficulties caused by climate change.

For instance, say the authors of the paper, which is entitled “U.S. Funding is Insufficient to Address the Human health Impacts of and Public Health Responses to Climate Variability and Change,” the Hurricane Katrina disaster of 2005 is a prime example of how climate change is already affecting public health. This kind of extreme weather is becoming more and more prevalent as the climate changes and the impact not only of the immediate deaths from drowning, but from the effects of mold and fungal contamination that the waters left behind have had a serious impact on public health in Louisiana and the surrounding areas.