Call to doctors to take the lead on climate change
Doctors should take the lead in practical steps to reduce the carbon footprints associated with obesity, chronic disease and population growth, according to an article published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
Prof Robyn McDermott, Professor of Public Health at the University of South Australia, writes that ageing, obesity and associated conditions account for the greatest proportion of disability and accelerating health care use, and that the health sector itself has a significant and expanding carbon footprint.
“When we add the increasing costs of health care and the health industry’s carbon footprint to the entirely preventable loss of years of life and wellness caused by physical inactivity, we have a compelling case for specific action led by doctors in four health-related domains,” Prof McDermott said.
These four areas include reducing the adverse environmental impact of the health care industry; developing a comprehensive food and nutrition policy that addresses food quality, safety and security; upgrading urban planning rules to make climate change mitigation measures enforceable; and supporting more robust policies to protect the sexual health and reproductive rights of women globally to improve overall quality of life and indirectly slow population growth.
“Finally, climate change policies should be assessed for their impact on global health and equity,” Prof McDermott said.
In an accompanying editorial, Associate Prof Colin Butler, from the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at the Australian National University, acknowledges that doctors are powerful role models, but says that the virtual absence of health as an agenda item for the recent climate change talks in Copenhagen underlines how far there is to go.
“It is … easy to call for “whole-of-government” approaches, whether to slow climate change, fix the obesogenic environment or to enhance equity. Easy to say, hard to achieve,” Prof Butler said.
“The law of increasing returns is a powerful impediment, not only to whole-of-government reforms, but to the transition to sustainability more broadly.”
The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.
The statements or opinions that are expressed in the MJA reflect the views of the authors and do not represent the official policy of the AMA unless that is so stated.
CONTACT:
Associate Prof Colin Butler 02 6247 1227 (Sunday 2 May only)
Prof Robyn McDermott 0421 617 690