Human health and environmental sustainability: the 21st century's grand challenges
Authors: Keith Martin, Zoë Mullan, Richard Horton
Journal: The Lancet Global Health (2016)

To walk through a forest uncharacteristically barren of snow in wintertime, or through a hospital ward dominated by older and chronically ill patients, is to witness two of the greatest challenges of our time: the degradation of the Earth's ecosystems and the shift in human disease towards that driven by our lifestyles and our surroundings. Both challenges are inseparable: climate change, ecosystem destruction, massive losses in biodiversity, a warming ocean, soil degradation, and pollution are wreaking havoc on our planet and sickening us. Global health, with its interdisciplinary core, provides a unique platform to address these problems. As was made abundantly clear in The Lancet's Commission on Planetary Health,1Whitmee S Haines A Beyrer C et al.Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch: report of The Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on planetary health.Lancet. 2015; 386: 1973-2028Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (1125) Google Scholar and as exemplified by the One Health initiative, collaboration across the fields of human health, environmental sciences, animal health, sociology, engineering, urban planning, management, economics, law, and much more will be needed to address ongoing challenges to security, productivity, and health. Additionally, there is a need to pay more attention to the foundational structures needed to implement the knowledge our research uncovers. We have neglected to strengthen the governance, public service capabilities, and institutions vital to ensure social stability and sustainability and scale up public policies. The mission of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) is to build interdisciplinary collaborations and to promote mutually beneficial, long-term partnerships between universities in resource-rich and resource-poor countries, developing human capital and strengthening institutions' capabilities. It aims to ensure that significant, durable benefits are realised by institutions in low-income settings and that partnerships are driven by the needs of that institution. Solutions implemented must be culturally appropriate, and funding and support must come from all partners. Falling on the heels of the Paris Agreement on climate change and the release of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), CUGH's seventh annual conference on April 8–11 in San Francisco, CA, USA, is "Bridging to a Sustainable Future in Global Health". A plenary session on planetary health is being held along with special meetings to convene attendees interested in participating in a network of experts to identify and aggregate the best research findings, develop curricula, and build capacity in this field. This network could be used to support the Planetary Health Alliance and One Health initiatives. The conference also features sessions to address mental health, global cancer (with the US National Cancer Institute), the Sustainable Development Goals, building sustainable cities, governance, and the global security agenda as the Ebola and Zika viruses remind us that these infectious disease threats will never be far away. CUGH has grown significantly over the past 3 years, nearly tripling in size. It has broadened its reach across disciplines and geography. Partnerships have expanded across sectors to include governments, associations, think tanks, and non-governmental organisations. CUGH's committees—a vital mechanism to engage members—have expanded and made significant contributions from defining global health competencies to the dynamics of effective partnerships. A particularly exciting and potentially impactful endeavour is CUGH's effort to facilitate long-term collaborations between CUGH members and African institutions. These collaborations will focus on training the trainers and providing access to context-relevant curricula across a range of medical and non-medical skill sets. We hope this will help strengthen training programmes, address deficits in human resource skills, and educate us all on how to implement long-term partnerships. In its second year, a travel scholarship programme continues to support researchers in low-income and middle-income countries to attend and present their work at the annual conference. Fundraising will continue through donations, as demand for this support vastly exceeds available resources. Communication efforts continue to expand. A webinar programme began that addressed issues ranging from the global surgical deficit, sepsis, and the Ebola outbreak to academic programmes' administrative needs. Advocacy issues championed included support for research funding, action to address the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, protecting health workers in conflict, reproductive rights, gun violence, and more. New opportunities for students were developed, including a student-led global health day with the University of California. Global health sits in an ideal position to address the grand challenges that face our planet and ourselves. The urgency to act cannot be overstated. As CUGH looks to the future it will develop mechanisms to harness the research, education, service, and advocacy capabilities across disciplines within its membership and apply it to improving the wellbeing of people and the planet: the essence of global health. We declare no competing interests.