A prescription for a healthier planet

My dad was a veterinary pathologist. Although he mainly worked with sick, dying or deceased animals, he was fond of all creatures (except bats – ‘bloody dirty bats,’ he would growl, ‘they carry Hendra virus, you know’). Dad was the first person to tell me about climate change. I was 12 years old when he came into the lounge room one afternoon devastated after reading that the warming planet had caused the extinction of a rare and beautiful frog. The implications of climate change on the Earth’s flora and fauna were writ large for me from a young age.

However, as I’ve grown from that bewildered 12 year old and commenced my studies of medicine, I’ve come to understand that climate change is as much a threat to human health as it is to the health of the environment. This conclusion is agreed by many medical organisations including the Australian Medical Association and the Royal Australian College of Physicians (RACP). Significantly, the Lancet Journal declared in 2009 that climate change is a public health disaster.

Their concern is well-founded, as the potential health impacts of climate change identified by the Australian Climate Commission in 2011 carry significant morbidity and mortality. The direct health consequences of climate change include those caused by the increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events and the aftermath that can cause loss of life, injury and disease. Indirectly, climate change will increase the distribution and activity of vector-borne diseases such as malaria.

Considering the threat that climate change poses to our health, it would be logical for doctors, other health professionals, and medical students to advocate for action on climate change. If you tell your patients to stop smoking, exercise and eat healthy to prevent disease, then why would you not ask our Government to act on climate change for the very same reason?

Medical practitioners have a proud and successful history of lobbying Governments and industry on issues that threaten their patients’ health. Doctors have shown that advocacy and the medical profession go hand-in-hand by their passionate support for the rights of the LGBTIQ community or for greater restrictions on the tobacco industry. Support amongst doctors for action on climate change would be consistent with the very same principle of improving the health of patients that founded their support for these other issues.

There has already been active leadership on this issue as demonstrated by the AMA, Doctors for the Environment (DEA) and the RACP to name a few. They have lobbied the Government for action on climate change and spread awareness about the link between health and climate change. Medical students across NSW, as part of national collectives such as the DEA and Australian

Medical Students’ Association (AMSA), have also been engaged and active in promoting action on climate change.

Medical students have been particularly vocal advocates for divestment from the fossil fuel industry in their universities and medical groups. This divestment campaign by medical students is part of a global movement that has led to trillions of dollars divested from fossil fuel companies and includes divestments from medical organisations in Australia such as the DEA, the Climate and Health Alliance and the RACP.

In addition to this, Code Green – an environmental initiative of AMSA – has designed an online course available to all medical students that explores the effect of climate change on health. Aside from educating participating students about the health impacts of climate change and the practical actions students can make to reduce their carbon footprint, the course also asks students to consider the role of the environment in the delivery of health information. For example, the additional environmental benefits associated with healthy lifestyle changes can be explained to a patient. This may include pointing out the reduction in carbon emissions when one chooses to walk or cycle to work rather than drive.

When my Dad told 12-year-old me about the extinction of the vulnerable frog, I failed to appreciate how climate change might affect humans. However, it is clear now that the health risks of climate change are substantial. Undeniably, there is a distinct role for doctors to advocate for action on climate change. Indeed, such a threat to our health means that doctors have a moral and logical imperative to be at the forefront of climate change action and advocacy.

Damian Gill
5th Year Medical Student (UNSW)