Equipping global health trainees for the climate crisis
Authors: Victoria Haldane, Isha Berry
Journal: The Lancet Planetary Health (2021)

The climate crisis is a global public health crisis that emerging leaders in global health are not adequately equipped to confront. Recognising the gap between global health training and the demands of the climate crisis, we hosted a workshop at the 2020 Canadian Conference on Global Health, which was themed Global Health in a Changing Climate, held on Oct 19–21, 2020. Led by trainees, our 1 h workshop for trainees used a peer engagement model to discuss and reflect on ways trainees can transform global health training to protect people and the planet. Our approach was grounded in planetary health, an integrative paradigm exploring the complex dynamics between the health of people and the natural systems on which life depends.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 (875) Google Scholar Collectively, we charted a course for how to best meet planetary health challenges in the work we do, how we act, and what we learn. The virtual workshop was attended by 32 participants representing five of the six WHO regions. An introductory poll revealed that although 74% of participants were aware of planetary health, only 26% actively engaged it in their research or curriculum. Participants also noted that global health training offers little compulsory planetary health competencies. By contrast, other health disciplines, notably medicine, have pledged to act and embedded planetary health in their curricula.2Hackett F Got T Kitching GT MacQueen K Cohen A Training Canadian doctors for the health challenges of climate change.Lancet Planet Health. 2020; 4: e2-e3Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (13) Google Scholar, 3Wabnitz KJ Gabrysch S Guinto R et al.A pledge for planetary health to unite health professionals in the Anthropocene.Lancet. 2020; 396: 1471-1473Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (16) Google Scholar From this discussion-based workshop, we identified four actionable recommendations for global health programmes to better equip trainees for planetary health. First, engage early, often, and consistently in teaching planetary health concepts; to this end, trainees offered the Sustainable Development Goals as valuable signposts for curricula development. Second, embrace systems thinking and transdisciplinary perspectives; trainees recognised the complexity of planetary health challenges and wanted to engage across disciplines towards solutions. Third, prioritise planetary health research. There is a need to reform the practice of global health to reduce emissions while also promoting greater equity and decolonisation in what and how we research. Funding bodies and institutions must also offer greater incentives and support for planetary health trainees and research topics. Finally, engage with the knowledge systems of Indigenous communities. Trainees spoke of how planetary health has been embedded in Indigenous communities and wanted to learn from the global collective of Indigenous knowledge towards environmental stewardship. Our global health research communities and training institutions must review, reflect on, and redesign the ways in which we promote and preserve planetary health. The evidence is clear, the demand is high, and the time is now. We declare no competing interests. VH and IB contributed equally. Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch: report of The Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on planetary healthFar-reaching changes to the structure and function of the Earth's natural systems represent a growing threat to human health. And yet, global health has mainly improved as these changes have gathered pace. What is the explanation? As a Commission, we are deeply concerned that the explanation is straightforward and sobering: we have been mortgaging the health of future generations to realise economic and development gains in the present. By unsustainably exploiting nature's resources, human civilisation has flourished but now risks substantial health effects from the degradation of nature's life support systems in the future. Full-Text PDF