Health Workers Are Key To Meeting The Climate Crisis.

Offline: Extinction or rebellion?

Coming Together for Climate and Health: Proceedings of the Second Annual Clinical Climate Change Meeting, January 24, 2020.

Nuclear war, climate change, and medical activism

Introduction to Journal of Nursing and Human Sciences

Health professionals as advocates for climate solutions: A case study from Wisconsin,

Health professionals (HPs) are increasingly called upon to care for patients experiencing the health impacts of climate change, while working in the high eco-footprint health care system, which is starting to embrace a culture of sustainability. HPs are uniquely positioned to drive health care culture toward ecological responsibility and, consequently, improve patient care, health equity, and public health. Education for sustainable health care (ESHC or ESH) is the first step in developing health care practitioners able to think critically about and act upon the health impacts of the climate crisis. University of California Education for Sustainable Healthcare (UC-ESH) Faculty Development Initiative was developed to address the following goals: educate faculty on eco-medical literacy, empower faculty to build community and lead ESH at their institutions, and expand coverage of ESH to reach students beyond those for whom sustainability is already a focus. The initiative provided training to faculty across health professions and 6 health science campuses to integrate ESH into their courses using the train-the-trainer model, key knowledge and pedagogical skills, and longitudinal guidance and networking opportunities. Using a survey, questionnaire, and interviews, the initiative was evaluated using the process/elements and product/outcomes steps of the Context, Input, Process, and Product evaluation model. The UC-ESH educated over 100 faculty members and led to ESH integration into 99 existing and new courses that subsequently reached over 7,000 learners. The UC-ESH increased empowerment, awareness, and knowledge about the climate crisis, and built an ESH community of practice. Initiative elements that contributed to these outcomes included engaging training; creation of supportive group dynamics; helpful resources and activities; ongoing support; and integration approaches to ESH. This university-system-wide initiative provides a transferable model to institutions, schools, and departments seeking to develop eco-medical literate faculty who educate their students about the climate, ecosystem, and health crisis.

BackgroundThe climate and ecological emergency is the single biggest health threat facing humanity, yet it is not clear to what extent the public health workforce have been involved in work...

Introduction:Climate change is a global public health emergency causing extensivemorbidity and mortality worldwide. Although most large medical organizationsendorse the need to train health care professionals in climate change, suchtrainings are not readily available.Methods:This article describes the results of an 8-week, 75-min per week, ClimateChange and Human Health ECHO (CCHH ECHO) synchronous telementoring coursefor post-licensure health professionals. The primary goals were: to increaseknowledge, self-efficacy, and communication skills. Participants wereeligible to receive up to 10 h of no-cost continuing education credits and acertificate for completing the program.Results:The 8-week course included 625 unique participants from 25 countries. Aninterprofessional group of clinicians, health professionals, and educatorsincluded: 130/28% PhD, 92/20% MD/DO, 52/12% RN/NP/PA, 50/11% MPH. Theprospective survey demonstrated a significant improvement in knowledge,confidence, attitudes (P < .001) and communicationskills (P = .029) at 3 months post course.Conclusions:The climate crisis is a public health emergency, and health professionalsworldwide are considered the most trusted source of health information.Training current and future health professionals regarding thehealth-related effects of global warming is vital. The CCHH ECHO may be asuccessful model to facilitate knowledge transfer and promote communicationskills between subject matter experts and course participants.

The climate crisis is reaching an irreversible tipping point. If the planet continues on its current trajectory of rising global temperatures and increasing ecological instability, then humans will be faced with catastrophic environmental and health effects. In acknowledgement of the interface between environmental change and human health, there is an increasing international mandate to integrate themes of sustainability, climate change and ecological instability into the health professional curriculum. As a result, planetary health is a growing field in health and medicine, but despite this, those working in the field are facing a number of challenges to its implementation that need to be overcome. The aim of this workshop is to explore examples of planetary health curricula development and to examine how best to implement such curricula for undergraduate health professionals across Europe. The workshop will open with a brief overview of the concept of planetary heath and the role of the health professional in responding to the climate crisis, summarising the current evidence in the field, before participating panellists each present the work they are undertaking in their own universities to develop planetary health curricula for undergraduate health professionals. Firstly they will briefly describe material covered in the curriculum before identifying any barriers and facilitators to implementation they have encountered. The panel discussion will then focus on the potential to develop shared undergraduate curricula in planetary health across European countries. To conclude there will be an opportunity for the audience to participate in Q and A. Participating panel members include Dr Sofia Hammarstrand, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Sahlgrenska University Hospital and Gothenburg University, Sweden, Dr Debbi Stanistreet, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dr Heather Baid, The University of Brighton, and Dr Peter Blankestijn, The University Medical Centre Utrecht. Speakers/Panelists Deborah Stanistreet Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland Peter Blankestijn University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands Heather Baid University of Brighton, Brighton, UK Key messages Participants will become familiar with examples of planetary health curricula for student health professionals. Participants will be able to identify challenges to implementing planetary health curricula and opportunities for an integrated approach across Europe.

COP27 Climate Change Conference: urgent action needed for Africa and the world

COP27 Climate Change Conference: Urgent action needed for Africa and the world.

COP27 Climate Change Conference: Urgent Action Needed for Africa and the World

In August 2023, the General Medical Council released the latest update of Good Medical Practice, which sets out the standards of patient care and professional behaviour to be expected of...

Concerns about climate activism in clinical practice – Authors' reply

Wealthy nations must step up support for Africa and vulnerable countries in addressing past, present and future impacts of climate change. The 2022 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) paints a dark picture of the future of life on earth, characterised by ecosystem collapse, species extinction, and climate hazards such as heatwaves and floods.1 These are all linked to physical and mental health problems, with direct and indirect consequences of increased morbidity and mortality. To avoid these catastrophic health effects across all regions of the globe, there is broad agreement—as 231 health journals argued together in 2021—that the rise in global temperature must be limited to less than 1.5°C compared with pre-industrial levels. While the Paris Agreement of 2015 outlines a global action framework that incorporates providing climate finance to developing countries, this support has yet to materialise.2 COP27 is the fifth Conference of the Parties (COP) to be organised in Africa since its inception in 1995. Ahead of this meeting, we—as health journal editors from across the continent—call for urgent action to ensure it is the COP that finally delivers climate justice for Africa and vulnerable countries. This is essential not just for the health of those countries, but for the health of the whole world. The climate crisis has had an impact on the environmental and social determinants of health across Africa, leading to devastating health effects.3 Impacts on health can result directly from environmental shocks and indirectly through socially mediated effects.4 Climate change-related risks in Africa include flooding, drought, heatwaves, reduced food production, and reduced labour productivity.5 Droughts in sub-Saharan Africa have tripled between 1970–79 and 2010–2019.6 In 2018, devastating cyclones impacted 2.2 million people in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.6 In west and central Africa, severe flooding resulted in mortality and forced migration from loss of shelter, cultivated land, and livestock.7 Changes in vector ecology brought about by floods and damage to environmental hygiene have led to increases in diseases across sub-Saharan Africa, with rises in malaria, dengue fever, Lassa fever, Rift Valley fever, Lyme disease, Ebola virus, West Nile virus and other infections.8, 9 Rising sea levels reduce water quality, leading to water-borne diseases, including diarrhoeal diseases, a leading cause of mortality in Africa.8 Extreme weather damages water and food supply, increasing food insecurity and malnutrition, which causes 1.7 million deaths annually in Africa.10 According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, malnutrition has increased by almost 50% since 2012, owing to the central role agriculture plays in African economies.11 Environmental shocks and their knock-on effects also cause severe harm to mental health.12 In all, it is estimated that the climate crisis has destroyed a fifth of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the countries most vulnerable to climate shocks.13 The damage to Africa should be of supreme concern to all nations. This is partly for moral reasons. It is highly unjust that the most impacted nations have contributed the least to global cumulative emissions, which are driving the climate crisis and its increasingly severe effects. North America and Europe have contributed 62% of carbon dioxide emissions since the Industrial Revolution, whereas Africa has contributed only 3%.14 Yet it is not just for moral reasons that all nations should be concerned for Africa. The acute and chronic impacts of the climate crisis create problems like poverty, infectious disease, forced migration, and conflict that spread through globalised systems.6, 15 These knock-on impacts affect all nations. COVID-19 served as a wake-up call to these global dynamics and it is no coincidence that health professionals have been active in identifying and responding to the consequences of growing systemic risks to health. But the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic should not be limited to pandemic risk.16, 17 Instead, it is imperative that the suffering of frontline nations, including those in Africa, be the core consideration at COP27: in an interconnected world, leaving countries to the mercy of environmental shocks creates instability that has severe consequences for all nations. The primary focus of climate summits remains to rapidly reduce emissions so that global temperature rises are kept to below 1.5°C. This will limit the harm. But, for Africa and other vulnerable regions, this harm is already severe. Achieving the promised target of providing $100bn of climate finance a year is now globally critical if we are to forestall the systemic risks of leaving societies in crisis. This can be done by ensuring these resources focus on increasing resilience to the existing and inevitable future impacts of the climate crisis, as well as on supporting vulnerable nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions: a parity of esteem between adaptation and mitigation. These resources should come through grants not loans, and be urgently scaled up before the current review period of 2025. They must put health system resilience at the forefront, as the compounding crises caused by the climate crisis often manifest in acute health problems. Financing adaptation will be more cost-effective than relying on disaster relief. Some progress has been made on adaptation in Africa and around the world, including early warning systems and infrastructure to defend against extremes. But frontline nations are not compensated for impacts from a crisis they did not cause. This is not only unfair, but also drives the spiral of global destabilisation, as nations pour money into responding to disasters, but can no longer afford to pay for greater resilience or to reduce the root problem through emissions reductions. A financing facility for loss and damage must now be introduced, providing additional resources beyond those given for mitigation and adaptation. This must go beyond the failures of COP26 where the suggestion of such a facility was downgraded to “a dialogue”.18 The climate crisis is a product of global inaction, and comes at great cost not only to disproportionately impacted African countries, but to the whole world. Africa is united with other frontline regions in urging wealthy nations to finally step up, if for no other reason than that the crises in Africa will sooner rather than later spread and engulf all corners of the globe, by which time it may be too late to effectively respond. If so far they have failed to be persuaded by moral arguments, then hopefully their self-interest will now prevail. This Comment is being published simultaneously in multiple journals. For the full list of journals see: https://www.bmj.com/content/full-list-authors-and-signatories-climate-emergency-editorial-october-2022 In the interest of transparency the authors wish to declare the following roles and relationships: James Kigera is the Ex-Officio, President and Secretary of the Kenya Orthopedic Association; Paul Yonga been paid to speak or participate at events by Novartis, bioMerieux and Pfizer; Chris Zielinski is a paid consultant for the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change; Joy Muhia is an unpaid board member of the International Working Group for Health systems strengthening; David Ofori-Adjei has a relationship with GLICO Healthcare Ltd. The authors declare no further conflicts of interest beyond those inherent in the editorial roles listed above.