Founded in 1933, the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) is a nonprofit organization that certifies general pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists based on standards of excellence that lead to high-quality health care during infancy, childhood, adolescence, and the transition into adulthood. The ABP certification provides assurance to the public that a general pediatrician or pediatric subspecialist has successfully completed accredited training and fulfills continuing certification requirements.
The ABP’s education module on the AMA Ed Hub, “Impacts of Climate Change on Pediatric Health Care,” addresses a critical issue in pediatric health care: the ways in which children today have been adversely impacted by our rapidly warming planet. The module contains 20 article-based, self-assessment questions and aims to educate pediatricians about a public health crisis and encourage climate advocacy, improved patient care and improved medical student education. With more frequent and intense heat waves, superstorms, floods, and wildfires, there has been an increase in asthma rates, heat-related illnesses, water- and vector-borne diseases, prolonged allergy seasons, and mental and emotional trauma related to intense national disasters linked to climate change. The impact climate change has on Earth’s food supply threatens children’s basic nutritional health. The intensification of these health threats due to climate change will affect the health of every child born today.
Understanding how climate change is affecting health is important to prepare clinical practices and hospitals to better counsel, treat, and care for children. Understanding climate change as an equity issue can improve a pediatrician’s understanding of the role of structural racism in health.
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