Diseases and other health issues may be occurring due to climate change. Yesterday, April 21, 2010, the National Institute of Health released a report highlighting 11 different categories of health consequences that could occur due to climate change.

A Human Health Perspective on Climate Change report is just the start of federal research of the climate’s impact on health. It details who will be at the highest risk and what types of efforts will be the most useful.

According to Linda Birnbaum, Ph.D., the director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the National Toxicology Program, “This white paper articulates, in a concrete way, that human beings are vulnerable in many ways to the health effects of climate change.”

“It lays out both what we know and what we need to know about these effects in a way that will allow the health research community to bring its collective knowledge to bear on solving these problems,” says Birnhaum.

Some categories the report highlights are the impact climate change has on cancer, human developmental effects, waterborne diseases, mental health and stress-related disorders, and heat-related morbidity and mortality.

This study “provides a guide for researchers throughout the world who are working to improve the health of the planet and the health of all people,” says Birnhaum. NIH’s report will certainly be a guide for future research, discussion, and education.