2023-10-26 10:02:32
Climate change has a “disastrous impact” on health and doctors play a “key” role in combating it. It is one of the conclusions of the experts who participated in the I Forum of the Medical Alliance against Climate Change (AMCC), which was attended by more than 200 people.
Floods in Sana’a, Yemen, in May 2019. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
Held at the European Parliament office in Madrid, the event to address climate change has brought together, in addition to national and international doctors, authorities such as the third vice president of the Government and minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Riberay to the Minister of Health, José Miñones.
Prescribers of climate change
Ribera highlighted the leadership of the profession through the AMCC by considering that it cannot be forgotten that “health in society does not depend on an individual state, but on many factors and criteria.”
“Climate change is one of the things that has the greatest impact and could have in the coming years,” he stressed.
The minister highlighted that some of the aspects to confront climate change and extreme phenomena related to it are medicine and health. For this reason, she thanked the doctors for their work in this area because, in her opinion, there are few professions that can play the role of “social prescriber.”
“The medical profession has a key role as social prescriber in matters of health and climate change,” added Ribera, who hoped that the conclusions and opinions of the forum would be collected by the Administrations.
Implementation of the “One Health” approach
For its part, the head of Health He spoke at the opening of the forum, through a video, to highlight the leadership of doctors in an aspect of public health as important as climate change.
For this reason, he investigated the need to continue implementing the “OneHealth” perspective in the response of the health system to the health consequences caused by climate change.
Thus, Miñones highlighted that Spain has been a pioneer in the inclusion of that perspective. And it is with the approval of the I Health and Environment Plan. This plan includes reducing the carbon footprint of the health sector, in line with the actions of the Medical Alliance Against Climate Change.
The Minister of Health also announced that a guide of recommendations for reducing the carbon footprint in the health sector will soon be published. And the participation of Spain in the I Ministerial Meeting of Health and Environment on the margins of the Climate Summit.
Decarbonization of the healthcare sector
He participated in the event, the president of the General Council of the Official College of Physicians (CGCOM), Thomas Cobowho highlighted that the institution has adopted a “proactive stance” to raise awareness among members of the importance of acting early and efficiently on “the necessary decarbonization of the health sector,” this organization reports in a note.
The president of the CGCOM, Tomás Cobo, together with the third vice president of the Government, Teresa Ribera. Photo provided by CGCOM.
Regarding this aspect, Cobo assured that this fight is included in the recent Code of Medical Ethics. It is, he said, so that “the preservation of the environment and the fight against climate change are considered an ethical duty” of medical professionals.
On the front line of the fight against climate change
The president of the World Medical Association (WMA), Lujain Alqodmanilike Miñones, participated through a video in which he stressed that “the science is clear, climate change has a disastrous impact on health.”
In fact, he indicated that the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 3.6 billion people live in areas that will be severely affected by climate change.
According to Algodmani, the impact on health is already being noticed and affects vulnerable populations “disproportionately.” “Our duty as doctors and as the first line of defense of people’s lives and well-being is to be on the front line of combat against this threat,” she considered.
In this sense, he stated that the AMM has declared the climate emergency and has called to move towards abandoning fossil fuels.
In a video he also spoke the president of the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS), Vassilios Papalois.
The expert insisted on the importance of a medical practice in the context of the green and sustainable cause.
“We have to rethink the ecological and sustainable concept and cause within medical training. Because whether we like it or not, the way we provide healthcare today is one of the biggest burdens on the carbon footprint and one of the biggest burdens we impose on our planet, our home,” Papalois emphasized.
Along the same lines, he maintained that the pandemic has taught that health systems are “totally interdependent” and that facing the green and sustainable challenge will require “cross-border” efforts.
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