Climate Change - Why we young doctors are bothered too?
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Climate change is negatively impacting human health and exacerbating existing health inequities. Young doctors are concerned about this issue because climate and the environment are fundamentally interconnected with human health and well-being. The effects of climate change like increasing natural disasters disproportionately impact the most vulnerable populations. Addressing the social and environmental determinants of health is crucial to improving health outcomes and achieving health equity.
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Climate Change - Why we young doctors are bothered too?
- 1. Climate Change - Why we young doctors are bothered too? Ramon Lorenzo Luis Rosa Guinto, MD Liaison Officer to the World Health Organization Founding Coordinator, Global Health Equity Initiative International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) Youth Commissioner, Lancet-University of Oslo Commission on Global Governance for Health
- 3. Human health and the environment are by design interconnected and inseparable.
- 4. The Constitution of WHO, 1948 “Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity… a fundamental human right”
- 5. Whoever would study medicine aright must learn of the following subjects. First he must consider the effect of the seasons of the year and the differences between them. Secondly he must study the warm and the cold winds, both those which are in common to every country and those peculiar to a particular locality. Lastly, the effect of water on health must not be forgotten. On Air, Water, and Places By Hippocrates Father of Medicine
- 9. The Philippine Situation No. 6 in the Climate Change Vulnerability Index No. 3 most vulnerable to disaster risks and natural hazards in the World Risk Index 2011, next to Vanuatu and Tonga
- 10. Ang Philippine Disaster Situation Pilipinas: Bulnerable sa Disaster Geographical at pisikal na katangian Sosyo-ekonomikal at pulitikal na kalagayan
- 13. "Medicine… has the obligation to point out problems and to attempt their theoretical solution…The physicians are the natural attorneys of the poor…” Dr. Rudolf Virchow Father of Social Medicine
- 14. Social Determinants of Health Dahlgren and Whitehead, 1991
- 15. Life expectancy at birth (men) Glasgow, Scotland (deprived suburb) 54 India 61 Philippines 65 Korea 65 Lithuania 66 Poland 71 Mexico 72 Cuba 75 US 75 UK 76 Glasgow, Scotland (affluent suburb) 82 (WHO World Health Report 2006; Hanlon,P.,Walsh,D. & Whyte,B.,2006)
- 17. “Unequal distribution of health-damaging experiences is not in any sense a ‘natural' phenomenon, but is a result of the toxic combination of poor social policies and programs, unfair economic arrangements and bad politics.” WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health, 2008
- 18. Basic question: What good does it do to treat people’s illnesses … only to send them back to the conditions that made them sick?
- 19. Health in All Policies
- 27. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 Article 25 “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”
- 28. "Health is not everything, but without health everything is nothing." Arthur Schopenhauer German Philosopher
- 30. HEALTH FOR ALL! Thank you for listening!
Editor's Notes
- I had a previous conversation – why health in climate negotiations?
- Human health and the environment are by design interconnected and inseparable.
- Even Hippocrates taught us to understand the environment as it shapes our patients’ health.
- The Lancet called climate change the biggest global health threat of the 21st century.
- There is a huge evidence showing the links between climate change and health.
- My country, the Philippines, is not exempted from climate change’s impact on human health and survival.
- Flooding inside my university
- Manila turned into a waterworld – even at this moment!
- Approximately 20 typhoons hit the Philippines each year. Due to climate change, typhoons have become more frequent, more severe, more erratic, and more unpredictable.
- Because we see the effects of climate change first-hand in our patients’ lives, and we are the last to bear its brunt.
- But the cure is not inside the clinic or the hospital – it is in the social determinants of health.
- SDH accounts for the world’s health inequities, both between and within countries.
- Climate change will breed more health inequity, as the effects are not the same in all regions. In fact, the developing world will suffer more the health consequences.
- Though climate change is an upstream determinant of health, climate change in itself is affected by more upstream ones, the highest being the unfair arrangements in economy and politics.
- So we want to address the SDH – and climate change and climate governance is one of them!
- We want a Health in All Policies approach at global and national levels. We can use the health lens to analyze the policies we create, especially those related to climate mitigation and adaptation.
- But we are not just waiting for action outside the health sector – we medical students are also doing our part!
- We build awareness among fellow medical students.
- We educate communities about the effects of climate change on human health.
- We train medical students in disaster management and health systems.
- We reach out to communities stricken by disaster.
- IFMSA attended Copenhagen, Cancun, Durban, and now Doha. We are leading the climate and health community and we work closely with WHO.
- We are even present in Rio plus 20 to let the health message surface in the negotiations.
- Finally, climate inaction is a violation of the right to health and human rights in general.
- Health is important in society. We should talk about it and make sure it is at the core of every climate discussion, because without it, everything will just be made in vain.
- The ultimate and the most crippling of all diseases is not global warming, but global whining. Therefore, we should start acting now.