Environmental factors in health data reporting

Key Question Being Explored in This Insight:

Arnagretta Hunter, physician and cardiologist, discusses the effects of climate change on human health.

Institution: Australian National University

Explore more insights in:

Analysis Medicine Population Health Professional Public Health

Media Literacy Toolkit

Faculti's Media Literacy Toolkit helps viewers critically engage with academic insights by analyzing the research context, identifying perspectives, and encouraging thoughtful evaluation.

Critical Questions to Consider ▼

What assumptions does the research make?
Are there alternative perspectives not explored?
What are the limitations of the research method?

Bias and Perspective Awareness ▼

This research comes from Australian National University . Reflect on how the institution's academic focus and research partnerships may shape the questions being explored.

Arnagretta Hunter, physician and cardiologist, discusses the effects of climate change on human health.

Image courtesy of interviewee. September 19, 2024

Log-in or Sign-up to Faculti
Currently viewing this subject insight as a guest. You have insight(s) remaining for this month. Login to view 8000+ figures on the platform.

Generating Workspace...

Export as PDF

This video video explores the significant impact of extreme weather events, driven by climate change, on public health. The speaker emphasizes that as more people are affected by natural disasters such as heatwaves, floods, and bushfires, there is an urgent need to understand how these environmental changes correlate with health outcomes. While there is extensive population-level data linking environmental factors to health, a shift is needed toward recognizing these connections on an individual basis.

Using examples like the bushfires in Australia, which exposed millions to harmful air pollution, the speaker discusses how specific environmental pollutants, like PM 2.5, contribute to a range of health issues including cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. They argue for a paradigm shift in healthcare that acknowledges the environment as a critical determinant of health, alongside social and biological factors.

The call to action includes increasing awareness across government sectors and the healthcare industry about the relationship between environmental conditions and health outcomes. The speaker believes that by improving the understanding of this relationship, they can enhance health strategies and community resilience to climate-related health risks, ultimately helping to mitigate morbidity and mortality associated with extreme weather events. The importance of integrating environmental considerations into public health policy and practices is highlighted as crucial for improving individual and community well-being.

Language:

Export as PDF

Export as PDF
Here are five key points extracted from the video:

1. **Impact of Extreme Weather on Health**: The video discusses how extreme weather events are increasingly affecting large populations globally, leading to health concerns such as excess mortality associated with various environmental factors, including heat waves, smoke exposure from bushfires, and cold weather.

2. **Epidemiological Insights**: It highlights that robust epidemiological data exists, demonstrating associations between environmental variables and the health outcomes of communities. However, there is a noted disparity in how this information is applied at the individual level within healthcare systems, which often focus more on personal risk factors than broader environmental influences.

3. **Shifts in Healthcare Perspectives**: The speaker emphasizes a paradigm shift in healthcare thinking—moving from solely understanding individual health impacts to considering environmental factors and collective community health in the convideo of climate change. This shift is essential for recognizing how climate change directly affects individual health and healthcare services.

4. **Climate Change as a Health Driver**: The need for urgent action on climate change is framed as a critical public health concern. By acknowledging climate change as a reality that has tangible effects on individual and population health, the video argues that all areas of government should integrate health information into their policy decisions.

5. **Fundamental Needs for Health**: The speaker reiterates the fundamental requirements for survival—clean air, food, and water—asserting their importance for maintaining health and wellbeing. This underscores the necessity of preserving the environment in order to protect public health, emphasizing that environmental health is intrinsically linked to overall health outcomes.

These points collectively stress the interconnectedness of environmental conditions, public health, and the urgency of addressing climate change.

Export as PDF
Here are some key quotes extracted from the video, which focuses on the impact of extreme weather and climate change on public health:

1. **Impact of Extreme Weather**:
- "As extreme weather events impact on larger proportions of the population around the world."
- "We know that it will have an impact and it has an excess mortality associated with it."

2. **Epidemiological Insights**:
- "We know quite a lot of information about that from epidemiology, from looking at population studies and then making associations between environmental variables and the health and wellbeing of communities."
- "We certainly have quite a lot of robust information on a population basis around the world."

3. **Health Risks due to Environmental Factors**:
- "PM 2.5 as an air pollutant can be problematic and causes a wide range of health conditions from cardiovascular disease to respiratory disease to malignancies and cancers."
- "Your heart attack, your stroke, your infection, your hospital admission... has the imprint of the environment very strongly."

4. **Climate Change as a Health Challenge**:
- "The interesting thing is that we're seeing the environment around us impacting extraordinary examples like the black summer experience we had here in Australia in 2019 and 2020."
- "Climate change is not a theoretical problem... but as the climate changes, it has a profound impact on human health and wellbeing."

5. **Call to Action**:
- "One of the strongest reasons to act on climate change is because of the health impacts of the change in climate."
- "We really have an opportunity to work with communities in that climate change adaptation space of decreasing morbidity and mortality associated with the rise in increasing extreme weather events."

6. **Holistic Approach to Health**:
- "The social environment in which we find ourselves is a really important modulating factor, but then broader appreciation that the environment is a key and essential component."
- "We need air to breathe, we need food to eat, and we need water with which we survive."

7. **Shifting Dynamics**:
- "I think we can still do more... we are seeing in our communities the benefits of doing so and the risks if we don't appreciate that relationship between people and place."
- "It's a paradigm shift within healthcare... moving from the bio-psychosocial model... to a broader perspective."

These quotes encapsulate the central themes of the video, highlighting the connections between extreme weather, climate change, public health, and the need for a comprehensive, community-based approach to mitigate health risks associated with environmental factors.

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:90000

1
00:00:03.895 --> 00:00:06.275
As extreme weather events impact on larger proportions

2
00:00:06.275 --> 00:00:07.675
of the population around the world.

3
00:00:08.265 --> 00:00:11.075
Lots of us having been through heat waves or bush fires

4
00:00:11.075 --> 00:00:13.075
or smoke exposure or floods

5
00:00:13.095 --> 00:00:16.195
or extreme cold weather might be really wondering.

6
00:00:16.275 --> 00:00:17.915
I wonder how much this impacts on the health

7
00:00:17.915 --> 00:00:19.035
of the communities around it.

8
00:00:19.735 --> 00:00:21.675
So we know quite a lot of information about

9
00:00:21.675 --> 00:00:24.795
that from epidemiology, from looking at population studies

10
00:00:24.855 --> 00:00:27.835
and then making associations between environmental variables

11
00:00:28.015 --> 00:00:29.875
and the health and wellbeing of communities.

12
00:00:29.875 --> 00:00:31.675
And so we certainly have quite a lot

13
00:00:31.675 --> 00:00:34.035
of robust information on a population

14
00:00:34.035 --> 00:00:35.515
basis around the world.

15
00:00:36.015 --> 00:00:38.075
The interesting thing is that we look at so much

16
00:00:38.075 --> 00:00:40.035
of this data from a population perspective.

17
00:00:40.165 --> 00:00:43.155
We're looking at it, you know, across this several thousands

18
00:00:43.155 --> 00:00:45.755
or millions of people across a particular territory.

19
00:00:46.175 --> 00:00:47.875
Uh, we know that it will have an impact

20
00:00:47.875 --> 00:00:50.355
and it has an excess mortality associated with it.

21
00:00:50.785 --> 00:00:53.515
When we look at the individual, which is much how much

22
00:00:53.515 --> 00:00:56.075
of our healthcare system works, we look at an individual

23
00:00:56.215 --> 00:00:57.235
and their risk factors,

24
00:00:57.255 --> 00:00:59.955
or we look at their particular, likelihood

25
00:00:59.955 --> 00:01:03.715
of contracting a disease or succumbing to a disease process.

26
00:01:04.415 --> 00:01:06.195
We are much less robust in terms

27
00:01:06.195 --> 00:01:07.435
of our environmental variables

28
00:01:07.435 --> 00:01:08.555
and the way that we apply those.

29
00:01:08.975 --> 00:01:10.835
And again, I think this is part of the thinking

30
00:01:10.835 --> 00:01:12.595
that we're seeing shift around the world

31
00:01:12.975 --> 00:01:14.675
as the extreme weather events take place.

32
00:01:14.675 --> 00:01:15.995
And we're seeing the environment

33
00:01:15.995 --> 00:01:19.195
around us impacting extraordinary examples like

34
00:01:19.355 --> 00:01:21.715
that would be things like the black summer experience we had

35
00:01:21.715 --> 00:01:23.515
here in Australia in 2019

36
00:01:23.535 --> 00:01:28.155
and 2020 where the bushfire smoke exposure, lasted

37
00:01:28.255 --> 00:01:32.395
for many months from the, the beginning of spring of 2019

38
00:01:32.395 --> 00:01:34.755
through to the end of summer of 2020.

39
00:01:35.455 --> 00:01:37.715
And in know Australia, whose population is

40
00:01:37.715 --> 00:01:39.795
around 27 million, it's about 12

41
00:01:39.815 --> 00:01:41.755
and a half million Australians were exposed

42
00:01:41.775 --> 00:01:44.595
to PM 2.5 air pollution from bushfire

43
00:01:44.595 --> 00:01:46.195
smoke, which is unusual.

44
00:01:46.415 --> 00:01:49.835
And so we, again, we're learning these populations specific,

45
00:01:49.935 --> 00:01:53.755
we know that PM 2.5 as an air pollutant can be problematic

46
00:01:53.775 --> 00:01:54.955
and causes a wide range

47
00:01:55.135 --> 00:01:58.315
of health conditions from cardiovascular disease

48
00:01:58.455 --> 00:02:01.435
to respiratory disease to malignancies and cancers.

49
00:02:02.095 --> 00:02:05.235
And then on an individual basis, can we reverse that?

50
00:02:05.335 --> 00:02:07.115
Can we look at one person in hospital

51
00:02:07.295 --> 00:02:10.075
and say, look, your heart attack, your stroke,

52
00:02:10.145 --> 00:02:13.915
your infection, your hospital admission, it has the imprint

53
00:02:13.975 --> 00:02:15.595
of the environment very strongly.

54
00:02:16.015 --> 00:02:18.715
Um, and if it wasn't for the unfolding apocalypse

55
00:02:18.715 --> 00:02:21.195
of the bushfire smoke outside in 2020,

56
00:02:21.735 --> 00:02:22.915
you would not be in hospital.

57
00:02:22.975 --> 00:02:24.835
And so beginning that population,

58
00:02:24.895 --> 00:02:27.395
taking the population discussion down to the individual,

59
00:02:27.425 --> 00:02:28.915
that that's been the dynamic shift,

60
00:02:28.955 --> 00:02:29.795
I think in the last few

61
00:02:29.795 --> 00:02:34.035
years around the world.

62
00:02:34.045 --> 00:02:36.475
We're seeing this increase in extreme weather events.

63
00:02:37.295 --> 00:02:39.075
We know that that will impact on the health

64
00:02:39.075 --> 00:02:40.995
and wellbeing of all populations.

65
00:02:41.175 --> 00:02:43.195
And there, there are, there's no part

66
00:02:43.195 --> 00:02:46.675
of the world which won't be experiencing changes in patterns

67
00:02:46.675 --> 00:02:48.635
of disease, changes in patterns of illness

68
00:02:48.855 --> 00:02:50.795
and mortality in response

69
00:02:50.795 --> 00:02:53.195
to changes in weather environments.

70
00:02:53.215 --> 00:02:54.555
And so for some places,

71
00:02:54.735 --> 00:02:56.915
if you're in a more temperate than usual winter,

72
00:02:57.305 --> 00:02:58.595
that may in fact improve

73
00:02:58.875 --> 00:02:59.875
Mortality. We know very cold

74
00:02:59.875 --> 00:03:02.045
temperatures are strongly associated

75
00:03:02.045 --> 00:03:03.285
with increase in mortality.

76
00:03:03.705 --> 00:03:05.245
Um, but in contrast,

77
00:03:05.315 --> 00:03:07.325
very hot temperatures are also associated

78
00:03:07.325 --> 00:03:08.725
with a much higher mortality.

79
00:03:09.425 --> 00:03:13.085
So the op, by making these, the shift from the population,

80
00:03:13.225 --> 00:03:16.045
understanding into what's,

81
00:03:16.045 --> 00:03:17.525
what's happening in your health service,

82
00:03:17.705 --> 00:03:19.085
what's happening in primary care,

83
00:03:19.085 --> 00:03:20.725
what's happening in the preventative space,

84
00:03:21.065 --> 00:03:23.445
we really have an opportunity to work with communities in

85
00:03:23.445 --> 00:03:27.085
that climate change adaptation space of decreasing morbidity

86
00:03:27.085 --> 00:03:28.365
and mortality associated

87
00:03:28.365 --> 00:03:31.125
with the rise in increasing extreme weather events,

88
00:03:31.145 --> 00:03:32.725
the increase in severity and ex

89
00:03:32.725 --> 00:03:34.565
and frequency of these sorts of events.

90
00:03:34.825 --> 00:03:36.605
Uh, look, I think it's across the board

91
00:03:36.605 --> 00:03:38.205
and I often wonder if we're,

92
00:03:38.205 --> 00:03:40.485
when we're talking about climate change,

93
00:03:40.505 --> 00:03:42.365
and the need to act on climate change,

94
00:03:43.005 --> 00:03:45.885
I often wonder is there a stronger driver than,

95
00:03:45.885 --> 00:03:47.365
than caring for people in place?

96
00:03:47.905 --> 00:03:49.685
Um, and for me, it certainly informs the way

97
00:03:49.685 --> 00:03:50.885
that I approach the, the science

98
00:03:50.885 --> 00:03:52.445
and my understanding of climate change.

99
00:03:53.105 --> 00:03:54.365
Um, that climate change.

100
00:03:54.475 --> 00:03:56.405
It's not a theoretical problem that will occur

101
00:03:56.405 --> 00:03:59.325
outside the insulated box in which I find myself,

102
00:03:59.705 --> 00:04:00.925
but as the climate changes,

103
00:04:01.065 --> 00:04:03.645
it has a profound impact on human health

104
00:04:03.645 --> 00:04:05.005
and wellbeing from the individual

105
00:04:05.145 --> 00:04:07.765
to the community into the global population more broadly.

106
00:04:08.025 --> 00:04:09.405
So I think it's one of the strongest reasons

107
00:04:09.405 --> 00:04:10.725
to act on climate change is

108
00:04:10.725 --> 00:04:13.365
because of the health impacts of the change in climate.

109
00:04:14.065 --> 00:04:16.605
And so who should take the health information seriously?

110
00:04:16.845 --> 00:04:18.525
I think it's across all areas of government.

111
00:04:18.545 --> 00:04:22.085
It can be be from, from treasury through transportation,

112
00:04:22.155 --> 00:04:24.245
through public policy, through education.

113
00:04:24.705 --> 00:04:27.125
But in the healthcare sector, making these links

114
00:04:27.125 --> 00:04:28.445
between environmental variables

115
00:04:28.445 --> 00:04:31.205
and the health outcomes of our populations has such

116
00:04:31.325 --> 00:04:32.565
a lot going for it.

117
00:04:32.585 --> 00:04:34.085
It really gives us an opportunity.

118
00:04:34.085 --> 00:04:36.605
Most of us practice medicine or work in healthcare

119
00:04:36.605 --> 00:04:39.285
because we are trying to improve the quality of life

120
00:04:39.285 --> 00:04:41.485
and life expectancy for the people that we care for.

121
00:04:41.985 --> 00:04:43.445
And, and so understanding

122
00:04:43.445 --> 00:04:46.485
that the environment is such an important layer of health

123
00:04:46.485 --> 00:04:47.845
and wellbeing on an individual

124
00:04:47.905 --> 00:04:51.765
and a community basis, I think is, is powerful in informing,

125
00:04:51.825 --> 00:04:54.045
the opportunities that we have to, to care

126
00:04:54.065 --> 00:04:55.405
for people and protect their health.

127
00:04:55.675 --> 00:04:58.645
When I compare the understanding of environmental variables

128
00:04:58.645 --> 00:05:00.885
or the, the literacy in the healthcare sector

129
00:05:01.105 --> 00:05:02.125
around climate change

130
00:05:02.125 --> 00:05:04.885
and its health impacts, just in the last five years, the,

131
00:05:04.905 --> 00:05:06.885
the change in understanding and the awareness

132
00:05:06.905 --> 00:05:08.205
and engagement I think has been,

133
00:05:08.385 --> 00:05:10.005
has been shifting quite quickly.

134
00:05:10.585 --> 00:05:12.965
Is it fast enough? Is, is anything fast enough?

135
00:05:12.965 --> 00:05:15.245
Have we changed global greenhouse gas pollution?

136
00:05:15.245 --> 00:05:16.965
We really haven't in the last five years.

137
00:05:17.305 --> 00:05:18.725
Are we doing enough, fast enough?

138
00:05:18.735 --> 00:05:22.125
We're probably not, we are almost certainly locked into a

139
00:05:22.125 --> 00:05:23.725
significant shift in global climate.

140
00:05:24.145 --> 00:05:27.365
And so should that be informing a, a faster understanding

141
00:05:27.555 --> 00:05:29.765
that people in place are deeply connected

142
00:05:29.945 --> 00:05:31.045
and the way in which we care

143
00:05:31.045 --> 00:05:33.325
for the planet will is hugely impact

144
00:05:33.665 --> 00:05:34.845
on our health and wellbeing.

145
00:05:34.965 --> 00:05:36.325
I, I think we can still do more.

146
00:05:36.505 --> 00:05:38.485
So I've been, been really impressed, you know,

147
00:05:38.645 --> 00:05:40.325
particularly I guess in medicine,

148
00:05:40.325 --> 00:05:42.205
but certainly across the healthcare sector more broadly.

149
00:05:42.545 --> 00:05:45.125
It tends to be a slowly responsive system at times.

150
00:05:45.345 --> 00:05:48.325
But we probably learned through the Coronavirus pandemic

151
00:05:48.425 --> 00:05:50.685
and also through the sorts of extreme weather events

152
00:05:50.685 --> 00:05:53.205
that have taken place in Europe, in North America,

153
00:05:53.385 --> 00:05:54.845
around the world through Asia.

154
00:05:55.025 --> 00:05:56.645
Uh, and here obviously in

155
00:05:56.645 --> 00:05:59.325
Australia, we are learning to make those associations

156
00:05:59.325 --> 00:06:02.725
and we are seeing in our communities the benefits of doing

157
00:06:02.825 --> 00:06:06.045
so and the risks if we don't appreciate that relationship

158
00:06:06.045 --> 00:06:07.085
between people and place.

159
00:06:09.955 --> 00:06:12.555
I would put this across the board in their healthcare

160
00:06:12.555 --> 00:06:14.875
sector, and I'm speaking dominantly as a cardiologist

161
00:06:14.875 --> 00:06:16.755
and physician who works looking after people.

162
00:06:17.535 --> 00:06:20.195
Um, and it's, I I've talked about a paradigm shift within

163
00:06:20.195 --> 00:06:22.755
healthcare of moving from the bio-psychosocial model

164
00:06:22.755 --> 00:06:25.355
where we understand the biology of disease drives.

165
00:06:25.415 --> 00:06:26.595
So much of what we deal with

166
00:06:26.825 --> 00:06:29.155
that the social envi determinants of health,

167
00:06:29.175 --> 00:06:32.235
the social environment in which we find ourselves is a

168
00:06:32.235 --> 00:06:33.835
really important modulating factor

169
00:06:33.895 --> 00:06:36.755
and cau causative issue sometimes for disease,

170
00:06:37.255 --> 00:06:40.875
but then broader appreciation that the environment is a key

171
00:06:41.175 --> 00:06:42.355
and essential component.

172
00:06:42.695 --> 00:06:44.595
And, and for me, I take it back

173
00:06:44.595 --> 00:06:47.195
to fairly rudimentary basics for human condition.

174
00:06:47.655 --> 00:06:50.155
We need air to breathe, we need food to eat,

175
00:06:50.155 --> 00:06:51.755
and we need water with which we survive.

176
00:06:52.335 --> 00:06:54.795
Uh, these three environmental variables

177
00:06:55.035 --> 00:06:58.035
provided for us by the planet are totally essential

178
00:06:58.035 --> 00:06:59.275
to human health and wellbeing.

179
00:06:59.275 --> 00:07:02.875
And without access to good quality products across air,

180
00:07:02.875 --> 00:07:04.355
food, and water, our health

181
00:07:04.355 --> 00:07:06.155
and wellbeing will not be maintained.

182
00:07:06.535 --> 00:07:09.035
So really making that strong link between people

183
00:07:09.175 --> 00:07:11.715
and the environment in which we find ourselves, I,

184
00:07:11.955 --> 00:07:13.875
I don't think we can do that fast enough.

185
00:07:13.935 --> 00:07:15.635
And I do think it's a paradigm shift.

186
00:07:15.695 --> 00:07:17.915
And so it's really beginning to appreciate

187
00:07:17.915 --> 00:07:21.195
that the biological metrics, the reductive model of medicine

188
00:07:21.195 --> 00:07:24.075
that has been dominant through our discussions over many

189
00:07:24.075 --> 00:07:27.275
decades needs to shift into a broader perspective.

190
00:07:27.275 --> 00:07:28.715
It's a more complex framework.

191
00:07:28.745 --> 00:07:31.035
It's more difficult in terms of the epidemiology

192
00:07:31.055 --> 00:07:34.195
and finding the p value in a particular study,

193
00:07:34.535 --> 00:07:37.915
but that richness really adds to the appreciation

194
00:07:37.915 --> 00:07:38.915
and the work that we do.

195
00:07:38.935 --> 00:07:41.955
And it gives us, I think, an a hugely increased capacity

196
00:07:42.255 --> 00:07:44.395
to preserve and protect, to maintain health

197
00:07:44.395 --> 00:07:45.915
and wellbeing across our populations

198
00:07:45.915 --> 00:07:47.635
and for people, in their lives.

Quick Answers

"The Crucial Connection Between Extreme Weather Events and Community Health: A Call to Action on Climate Change"**

00:00:03 - As extreme weather events impact on larger proportions of the population around the world. Lots of us having been through heat waves or bush fires or smoke exposure or floods or extreme cold weather might be really wondering. I wonder how much this impacts on the health of the communities around it. So we know quite a lot of information about that from epidemiology, from looking at population studies and then making associations between environmental variables and the health and wellbeing of communities. And so we certainly have quite a lot of robust information on a population basis around the world. The interesting thing is that we look at so much of this data from a population perspective. We're looking at it, you know, across this several thousands or millions of people across a particular territory.
00:00:47 - and it has an excess mortality associated with it. When we look at the individual, which is much how much of our healthcare system works, we look at an individual and their risk factors, or we look at their particular, likelihood of contracting a disease or succumbing to a disease process. We are much less robust in terms of our environmental variables and the way that we apply those. And again, I think this is part of the thinking that we're seeing shift around the world as the extreme weather events take place. And we're seeing the environment around us impacting extraordinary examples like that would be things like the black summer experience we had here in Australia in 2019 and 2020 where the bushfire smoke exposure, lasted
00:01:32 - through to the end of summer of 2020. And in know Australia, whose population is around 27 million, it's about 12 and a half million Australians were exposed to PM 2.5 air pollution from bushfire smoke, which is unusual. And so we, again, we're learning these populations specific, we know that PM 2.5 as an air pollutant can be problematic and causes a wide range of health conditions from cardiovascular disease to respiratory disease to malignancies and cancers. And then on an individual basis, can we reverse that? Can we look at one person in hospital and say, look, your heart attack, your stroke,
00:02:13 - of the environment very strongly. and if it wasn't for the unfolding apocalypse of the bushfire smoke outside in 2020, you would not be in hospital. And so beginning that population, taking the population discussion down to the individual, that that's been the dynamic shift, I think in the last few years around the world. We're seeing this increase in extreme weather events. We know that that will impact on the health and wellbeing of all populations. And there, there are, there's no part of the world which won't be experiencing changes in patterns of disease, changes in patterns of illness and mortality in response
00:02:53 - And so for some places, if you're in a more temperate than usual winter, that may in fact improve Mortality. We know very cold temperatures are strongly associated with increase in mortality. but in contrast, very hot temperatures are also associated with a much higher mortality. So the op, by making these, the shift from the population, understanding into what's, what's happening in your health service, what's happening in primary care, what's happening in the preventative space, we really have an opportunity to work with communities in that climate change adaptation space of decreasing morbidity and mortality associated with the rise in increasing extreme weather events,
00:03:32 - and frequency of these sorts of events. look, I think it's across the board and I often wonder if we're, when we're talking about climate change, and the need to act on climate change, I often wonder is there a stronger driver than, than caring for people in place? and for me, it certainly informs the way that I approach the, the science and my understanding of climate change. that climate change. It's not a theoretical problem that will occur outside the insulated box in which I find myself, but as the climate changes, it has a profound impact on human health and wellbeing from the individual to the community into the global population more broadly. So I think it's one of the strongest reasons to act on climate change is because of the health impacts of the change in climate.

"Integrating Environmental Considerations into Healthcare: A Paradigm Shift for Health and Wellbeing"

00:04:16 - I think it's across all areas of government. It can be be from, from treasury through transportation, through public policy, through education. But in the healthcare sector, making these links between environmental variables and the health outcomes of our populations has such a lot going for it. It really gives us an opportunity. Most of us practice medicine or work in healthcare because we are trying to improve the quality of life and life expectancy for the people that we care for. And, and so understanding that the environment is such an important layer of health and wellbeing on an individual and a community basis, I think is, is powerful in informing, the opportunities that we have to, to care
00:04:55 - When I compare the understanding of environmental variables or the, the literacy in the healthcare sector around climate change and its health impacts, just in the last five years, the, the change in understanding and the awareness and engagement I think has been, has been shifting quite quickly. Is it fast enough? Is, is anything fast enough? Have we changed global greenhouse gas pollution? We really haven't in the last five years. Are we doing enough, fast enough? We're probably not, we are almost certainly locked into a significant shift in global climate. And so should that be informing a, a faster understanding that people in place are deeply connected and the way in which we care for the planet will is hugely impact on our health and wellbeing.
00:05:36 - So I've been, been really impressed, you know, particularly I guess in medicine, but certainly across the healthcare sector more broadly. It tends to be a slowly responsive system at times. But we probably learned through the Coronavirus pandemic and also through the sorts of extreme weather events that have taken place in Europe, in North America, around the world through Asia. and here obviously in Australia, we are learning to make those associations and we are seeing in our communities the benefits of doing so and the risks if we don't appreciate that relationship between people and place. I would put this across the board in their healthcare sector, and I'm speaking dominantly as a cardiologist and physician who works looking after people.
00:06:20 - healthcare of moving from the bio-psychosocial model where we understand the biology of disease drives. So much of what we deal with that the social envi determinants of health, the social environment in which we find ourselves is a really important modulating factor and cau causative issue sometimes for disease, but then broader appreciation that the environment is a key and essential component. And, and for me, I take it back to fairly rudimentary basics for human condition. We need air to breathe, we need food to eat, and we need water with which we survive. these three environmental variables provided for us by the planet are totally essential
00:06:59 - And without access to good quality products across air, food, and water, our health and wellbeing will not be maintained. So really making that strong link between people and the environment in which we find ourselves, I, I don't think we can do that fast enough. And I do think it's a paradigm shift. And so it's really beginning to appreciate that the biological metrics, the reductive model of medicine that has been dominant through our discussions over many decades needs to shift into a broader perspective. It's a more complex framework. It's more difficult in terms of the epidemiology and finding the p value in a particular study, but that richness really adds to the appreciation and the work that we do.
00:07:45 - to preserve and protect, to maintain health and wellbeing across our populations and for people, in their lives.

Faculti AI can make mistakes

Research

Policy

Analysis

Data

Originals

Explainers

Podcasts

Watch the latest episode of The Exchange – the show where influential policymakers and leading researchers engage in insightful discussions shaping the future.

Episode: Brazil's Economic Resilience