Research public health issues on the “Climate Change” or “Topics and Issues” pages of the American Public Health Association (APHA) website. Investigate a public health issue related to an environmental issue within the U.S. health care delivery system and examine its effect on a specific population.

Write a 750-1,000-word policy brief that summarizes the issue, explains the effect on the population, and proposes a solution to the issue.

Follow this outline when writing the policy brief:

1. Describe the policy health issue. Include the following information: (a) what population is affected, (b) at what level does it occur (local, state, or national), and (c) evidence about the issues supported by resources.
2. Create a problem statement.
3. Provide suggestions for addressing the health issue caused by the current policy. Describe what steps are required to initiate policy change. Include necessary stakeholders (government officials, administrator) and budget or funding considerations, if applicable.
4. Discuss the impact on the health care delivery system.

Include three peer-reviewed sources and two other sources to support the policy brief.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

Answer preview

Air pollution is a critical environmental that affects people’s health. Under the Pollution Prevention Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (2019) implements the National Pollution Prevention Policy to enhance environmental safety. Additionally, the enacted carbon pricing policy on a global scale under the climate change regulations has been applied to reduce the carbon emissions rate. Air pollution is a significant influencer of climate change, and as presented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2020), this causes health issues like asthma and respiratory allergies. Due to air pollution, this increases temperatures from the greenhouse gases produced by human activity. These activities are the drivers for fossil fuel combustion from the manufacturing sector, transport, wildfires, and residential sector. As a result, the increased temperatures make the ground-level ozone significantly increase, causing airway inflammation, and leading to respiratory health issues like asthma and respiratory allergies. Based on facts presented by WHO (2019), 93% of children below 18 years are at a higher risk. Notably, children living in areas where the air pollution level is way above recommended guidelines are susceptible to asthma and allergies. This also includes children in the villages and cities at the local and state levels (WHO, 2019).(929words)