NOAA One Health Focus Areas
Rapidly changing developments in climate and health require pioneering forward-looking strategies and transdisciplinary action to facilitate idea exchange and create meaningful connections across diverse disciplines in the health community.
To effectively encapsulate the agency’s multifaceted climate and health sector work, the NOAA One Health topics of focus are arranged into thematic areas, broad subject categories that serve as organizational frameworks to structure research interests, program priorities, and actionable science solutions within specific fields. Agency-wide, the NOAA One Health Working Group consists of ten thematic areas: Air Quality and Atmosphere, Aquaculture and Fisheries, Benefits from the Sea, Extreme Conditions and Climate Change, Marine Animal Health, Water Quality, Water Quality and Related Illnesses, Vector-Borne Diseases, Regional, International, and Tribal.
Discover real-life applications and services within our focus areas below.
Leading global air quality management and atmospheric dynamics research efforts can combat air pollution, enhance weather forecasting, and protect public health.
Sustainable and responsible aquaculture can provide long-term food security, support coastal economies, and restore aquatic habitats with ecosystem-based approaches.
Coastal and marine ecosystems provide invaluable, multifaceted benefits, such as marine natural products, economic livelihoods, and socio-cultural resilience in the face of climate change.
Increasingly frequent and unprecedented severe weather events require environmental forecasting, emergency response, and community preparedness to combat extreme conditions and global climate change impacts.
As invaluable sentinels of water quality and environmental health, marine animal health is crucial to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem stability, and resilient oceans.
Securing equitable access to clean water quality and targeting related illnesses can protect marine and coastal water resources, safeguard aquatic ecosystem services, and lower the risks of waterborne diseases.
NOAA is essential in integrated vector-borne disease management strategies by leading vector population research, monitoring, and modeling efforts with epidemiological surveillance and climate expertise.
NOAA has an established regional network to address pertinent, local-level climate and health challenges for communities across the United States and its territories.
NOAA leads ocean and atmospheric sciences at the forefront of international partnerships, interdisciplinary environmental research collaborations, and global health solutions.
Centering tribal and Indigenous knowledge as an essential cultural nexus within the One Health framework is crucial for equitable and ethical engagement to inform and effectively deliver community-derived climate and health resilience solutions.