Epidemiology: Occupational and Environmental
NC Environmental Public Health Tracking Program
Mission statement:
“To empower communities by providing data and context to inform data driven policies, funding, and solutions to build a healthier and more equitable environment for all North Carolinians.”
- Provide a central hub of environmental health (EH) and climate data to the public.
- Monitor EH and climate indicators over space and time.
- Map resources to strengthen community resilience against climate hazards such as hurricanes, flooding, wildfires, poor air quality, and extreme heat.
- Examine community characteristics and vulnerabilities that lead to inequitable exposures and disproportionate health outcomes.
- Report findings to partners through education and outreach.
- Collaborate with community, government, and research partners to interpret findings and inform actions that increase health equity.
- Tell NC-specific stories to promote environmental and climate justice through data visualization.
NC Environmental Health Data Dashboard (EHDD)
Thank you for visiting our Environmental Health Data Dashboard! To start viewing either environmental justice or environmental health indicators select a tab to view the data on a map, see trends over time, compare across counties, create a factsheet, or learn about the data. Please share your feedback so that we can continue to improve!
Need help with the NC EHDD? Have questions? Want to be added to the email list to receive program updates? Contact: ncepht_support@dhhs.nc.gov
Interested in requesting data? The North Carolina Environmental Public Health Data Inventory provides a listing of available state and federal agency databases that can be requested to measure environmental hazards and related health outcomes. Please click here to review the NC DHHS Data Sharing Guidebook before submitting a data request.
Related Resources
Click on the links below to view external sites with data on climate change and environmental health in North Carolina and resources to build community resilience.
- NC Disaster Response and Recovery (Hurricane and flooding preparedness and recovery)
- NC Healthy Homes County Resources Library (Housing-related assistance)
- Plug-In NC (Resources for electric vehicles)
Why Does the Environment Matter?
The environment where we live, work, and play can affect our health. Environmental hazards exist when people have the potential to be exposed to harmful levels of environmental contaminants (e.g., mercury, pesticides) through various pathways or sources (e.g., water, air) and become ill. The EHDD integrates health outcome data with information about environmental and climate-related hazards so that these data can be explored together over space and time to identify any patterns and inform actions to prevent harmful exposures to communities throughout the state. Having this information easily available and accessible to the public, policy makers, and researchers is the first step toward increasing health equity, improving environmental justice, and building climate resilience for North Carolina.
Supporting Frameworks
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network was created to better understand the connection between health and the environment. The NC EPHT program and other public health programs provide state and county level data to the CDC’s Data Explorer on environmental exposures and related health outcomes, available through an interactive web portal that allows users to see how North Carolina compares to other states with respect to these indicators.
- Healthy People 2030 is a national framework that focuses on improving the health of Americans by reducing community exposure to harmful environmental pollutants in our air, water, soil, food, and built environments. The site includes objectives and progress on tracking environmental health indicators such as lead and arsenic exposure, as well as indicators related to neighborhoods, built environments, and transportation. Many of the Healthy People 2030 indicators are presented on the local level by the EHDD.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge and give thanks to the First Peoples of this land and their descendants who first pioneered and navigated this land. North Carolina is home to eight state-recognized tribes : the Coharie, Lumbee, Meherrin, Occaneechi Saponi, Haliwa Saponi, Waccamaw Siouan, Sappony, and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (ECBI). The Eastern Band of Cherokee is currently the only federally recognized tribe. According to the 2020 census, at least 100,886 indigenous people live in North Carolina, on tribal lands and in both rural and urban settings across the state.
We also acknowledge the people who were enslaved and brought to this land against their will. We acknowledge and give thanks to them and their descendants who have labored to tend to and build up this land. Lastly, we acknowledge and give thanks to the many immigrants, past and present, who bring new traditions to this land. We see you all.
To learn more about the history of the land you are on, please visit the websites below:
Last Modified: January 25, 2024