Medical Schools to Introduce Climate Change and Health Modules: Climate change presents unprecedented health risks and demands universal attention to address them. Multiple intergovernmental organisations, health associations, and health professions schools have recognised the specific importance of preparing physicians to address the health impacts of climate change.
Medical Schools to Introduce Climate Change and Health Modules
Medical students are identified as both key stakeholders in curriculum development and leaders in curriculum change efforts. Physicians play a critical role in addressing the health-related impacts of climate change. However, integration of education on the health effects of climate change into medical school curricula remains limited.
Among these, the direct and indirect health effects of climate change are escalating in global importance. These health impacts include heat-related illness, food and water insecurity, increased transmissibility of infectious diseases, and injury and displacement due to extreme weather events
A need to educate healthcare professionals on the health impacts of climate changes has been widely recognised by organisations internationally, including the American Medical Association, the Canadian Medical Association and a group of 118 medical, nursing and public health schools across 15 countries that signed the 2015 Health Educators Climate Commitment.
Medical curricula are informed by changing society needs. While formal education has been lacking, the rapid pace of climate threats has motivated student leadership. Often, student leadership acts as a driver of curricular change, and student engagement has been important for curriculum development.
The Rationale for Climate Change in Medical Education
First, today’s medical students and residents belong to a generation that has an increasingly large stake in developing a strategic response to the many deleterious impacts of climate change. Of the 18 hottest years on record worldwide since record keeping began in 1880, 17 have occurred since the year 2000. It is becoming increasingly clear that every sector needs to do their part to address climate changes.
The scope of the health effects of climate change is unprecedented. New data on the cardiovascular and pulmonary impacts of air pollution are of particular concern because climate change potentiates the damage caused by air pollution while, conversely, air pollution accelerates climate change. According to a recent study, air pollution was implicated in 6.5 million deaths in 2015.
What Must be done
Climate change will increasingly be a determinant of health and must be included in medical schools curricula so that students understand the role of the changing will also help students see themselves as self efficacious actors in this global challenge that is unfolding. By incorporating climate and health into their curricula, medical schools will not only prepare their students for the invevitable reality of illness and life cycles.
