Education about planetary health and sustainable healthcare: A national audit of health professions education curricula in South Africa

Abstract

Background. Climate change and environmental degradation have severe public health impacts. Education about planetary health (PH) and sustainable healthcare (SH), or the interdependence of health and healthcare and planetary ecosystems, is developing globally to enable health professionals to protect public health from these threats, and to build sustainable healthcare systems. Objective. To assess the status of PH and SH in health professions education in South African (SA) faculties of health sciences as a foundation for future work. Methods. Educators at all 24 SA faculties of health sciences were surveyed regarding undergraduate and postgraduate faculty courses with PH- and SH-related learning objectives and outcomes, learning activities and assessments. Pivot tables were constructed to analyse their responses. Results. Forty-one responses were received, representing 9 health professions from 15 of 24 faculties of health sciences in SA (62.5%). More than half (53.7%) were unaware of any courses with PH and SH content at their faculties. Nineteen respondents from 11 faculties reported 44 courses and provided data on 18 non-duplicate courses. Learning activities included advising patients about environmental and health co-benefits of their lifestyle choices (33.3%); written assignments (38.9%); oral presentations (55.6%); and community-based research (38.9%). Nine courses (50%) reported PH- and SH-related assessments, most commonly oral presentations (88.9%); reflective essays (77.8%); multiple-choice or short assessment questions (55.6%); and research outputs (55.6%). Conclusion. Education about PH and SH is starting to develop in SA faculties, although with a limited variety of learning activities and assessments. This study provides a useful baseline for curriculum development and assessment of progress.