Planet, health and hope – theme for upcoming conference

Registrations open for Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA) annual conference iDEA2021: Planet, Health and Hope online 16 - 17 October.

Human health is inextricably linked with the health of our planet, which is threatened by multiple factors including climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Indeed, climate change has been named the biggest global health threat of the 21st century and is already causing significant mortality and morbidity from heatwaves, extreme weather events, changes in vector ecology, forced migration and impacts on food and water security. 

The conference will assess planetary health from scientific, medical, and First Nations perspectives, and explore how the political milieu interplays with the health response. It will also focus on solutions as it is important that we approach these problems as something to be solved, not something to passively sit by and watch play out. 

The aim is that everyone who attends will leave with a thorough understanding of the nature of our planetary health problem and also with knowledge of how they can each be involved in helping to remedy it. 

The highly-esteemed line-up of speakers include Prof Will Steffen from the Climate Council, pollution expert Prof Lidia Morawska (who was recently named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people on the planet), Prof Nicholas Talley (the editor in chief of the Medical Journal of Australia) and Ms Alison Cox (the Policy and Advocacy Director at the Global Climate and Health Alliance). 

Tickets are available here until 13 October 2021.