Minnesota Assesses Risks to Public Health

Minnesota’s Strategic Adaptation Plan identifies public health threats from changes in environmental conditions and states the necessity of improving its public health system’s capacity to respond to these threats. 

The Minnesota Department of Health began working with CDC’s Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) program in 2010 to develop a vulnerability assessment. The goal of the assessment was to:

  • Better understand risks such as what health conditions could worsen due to changes in the environment. 
  • Characterize the state’s composite hazards and impacts risk. 

The assessment enabled the state to identify the counties facing the most significant risks based upon threats/concerns from:

  • Heat events
  • Outdoor air quality
  • Vector-borne diseases
  • Water quality
  • Water quantity

The assessment also led the state to downscale vulnerability and other environmental information to make it more accessible and applicable for regional use. 

To facilitate local action within vulnerable regions, Minnesota provides tools and resources to local municipalities to better prepare residents and reduce public health threats. Minnesota’s resiliency tools, some examples of which are the “Extreme Heat Toolkit” and a Climate 101 Training, are available to increase the adaptive capacity within vulnerable counties as they anticipate and prepare for the future. 

Through such resources and actions noted above, Minnesota is helping its public health system -- public health professionals, healthcare providers, and other health officials -- better anticipate and prepare for future risk and reduce projected vulnerabilities.

How did they do it?Applicable EPA Tools

Developed a public health Strategic Adaptation Plan.

  • The Department of Health established a workgroup comprised of senior management and subject matter experts from different health agency programs to develop the plan. Among those were officials from divisions specializing in:
    • Environmental health
    • Emergency preparedness
    • Public health labs
    • Epidemiology and health tracking
    • Family health
    • Infectious disease
    • Pollution control
    • Health divisions
  • Minnesota developed a public health plan that focused on hazards and impacts from six main pathways:
    • Heat events
    • Disaster events
    • Vector-borne diseases
    • Air pollution and allergens
    • Water quality and quantity
    • Waterborne and foodborne diseases
  • Several research gaps were identified including:
    • The need to conduct a vulnerability assessment.
    • The need to better identify vulnerable populations.
    • The need for outreach to vulnerable populations.
    • The need for additional research on the complex relationship between changing environmental conditions and fine particulate matter (PM). For more on the national status of this research please visit the EPA’s Air Quality and Climate Change web page.

Use the historical National Climate Assessments to better understand the range of projected threats to each region and to inform preparedness and resiliency plans.

NOAA's Archival Repository of the Fifth National Climate Assessment

Developed a risk map showing both vulnerable populations and county threat prevalence.

  • Worked through CDC's Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) program to develop a “Profile Report” that shows the composite hazard risk map for the state.
  • The map indicates at the county level, the most significant hazards and impacts threats from the six main pathways.

CDC's Assessing Health Vulnerability to Climate Change helps identify the most at risk populations, including older adults and those experiencing physical disabilities.

Assessing Health Vulnerability to Climate Change (PDF) (24 pp, 4.3 MB)

* (This is a non-EPA resource from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)

Provided tools for community use and recognized additional need for community level information.

  • Minnesota provides tools and resources such as its Extreme Heat Toolkit and Climate Change 101 Training, to local municipalities and health departments to help them better prepare for public health impacts.
  • Minnesota Climate And Health Profile Report 2015 acknowledges that further vulnerability assessments are needed "…at finer geographic levels to help public health departments and others plan for the impacts of climate change."

The US Climate Resilience Toolkit Health Vulnerability: Climate Change Guide For Health Departments can help support local preparedness measures.

Health Vulnerability: Climate Change Guide For Health Departments

Similar Cases and More Information

Remember, public health concerns can disproportionately affect communities in different ways, with some more at-risk than others. To view a case study that identifies and actively engaged vulnerable communities in adaptation planning for heat events, view Chicago Heat Emergency Response. 

To see how a community has used green infrastructure to both reduce the impact of future heat events and reduce stormwater runoff during heavy precipitation events, view Chicago, IL Uses Green Infrastructure to Reduce Heat Event Impacts. Or for another case on assessing vulnerability to public health and air concerns, view the Massachusetts Indoor Air Survey.

References

Climate Change Adaptation Resource Center (ARC-X)

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Last updated on August 6, 2025