Academic health policy debates for local climate change leadership

Abstract

Adaptation to the health effects of climate change and mitigation of the associated health risks is a global health policy issue that requires local and regional cooperation along with adequate resource allocation. However, following the withdrawal of the USA from the Paris climate accord, a new model of global climate response needs to be enforced, considering the urgency of these health effects among the low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) of the global south.1Watts N Adger WN Ayeb-Karlsson S et al.The Lancet Countdown: tracking progress on health and climate change.Lancet. 2017; 389: 1151-1164Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (202) Google Scholar Regional, national, and local actors need to be involved, thinking globally and acting locally. Although building capacity in local and regional policy leadership necessitates the involvement of educators, the multisectoral nature of the problem demands the use of learning approaches that are interprofessional and inquiry-based. Hence, we propose the use of academic, parliamentary-style health policy debates for building capacity in climate leadership among today's students—ie, the policy leaders of tomorrow. Many such debates in the past have mimicked the World Health Assembly and its global scope. However, simulations of regional and local diplomatic bodies allow for a focused deliberation and the voicing of relevant, evidence-informed arguments. In an example of a regionally focused health policy debate, an interprofessional group of students from both health and non-health professions participated in the Manipal Model WHO 2018 (at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India), where they debated approaches for adapting to and mitigating against the health effects of climate change in the south Asian region.2The Hindu Students debate climate change, health at Manipal Model WHO.https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Mangalore/students-debate-climate-change-health-at-manipal-model-who/article22758003.eceDate: Feb 16, 2018Google Scholar By receiving targeted instruction in health research literacy, parliamentary debate procedure, public speaking, and drafting policy documents, students showed key interprofessional and leadership skills to reach mutual consensus on the way forward. By building on existing generic WHO frameworks, they developed and voted on draft resolutions that presented region-specific policy plans to address local health effects. Similar health policy debates in education for health professionals have also been done in other LMICs, such as the Medical Model UN (ie, MedMUN 2014 and MedMUN 2015) in Malaysia involving only issue-appropriate nations.3Godinho MA Murthy S Ali Mohammed C Debating evidence-based health policy in an interprofessional classroom: an exploratory study.J Interprof Care. 2018; (published online Oct 31)DOI:10.1080/13561820.2018.1541873PubMed Google Scholar Likewise the National Health System 2017, a national health assembly simulation in Sudan,4Godinho MA Murthy S Ciraj AM Health policy for health professions students: building capacity for community advocacy in developing nations.Educ Health. 2017; 30: 254-255Crossref PubMed Scopus (3) Google Scholar debated domestic and regional issues specific to the region. These examples show that the local expertise for organising and conducting such debates is available in LMICs. Disseminated efforts and targeted interventions to mobilise this expertise can provide much needed opportunities for building local and regional policy leadership to address the health effects of climate change, specifically in LMICs. We declare no competing interests. The Lancet Countdown: tracking progress on health and climate changeThe Lancet Countdown: tracking progress on health and climate change is an international, multidisciplinary research collaboration between academic institutions and practitioners across the world. It follows on from the work of the 2015 Lancet Commission, which concluded that the response to climate change could be “the greatest global health opportunity of the 21st century”. The Lancet Countdown aims to track the health impacts of climate hazards; health resilience and adaptation; health co-benefits of climate change mitigation; economics and finance; and political and broader engagement. Full-Text PDF