Health Systems Straining Under Mounting Climate Pressure, MJA & Lancet Report Warns
As floods continue to inundate communities across Australia, a coalition of peak medical bodies and experts have warned of mounting pressure from climate change-related health impacts on strained healthcare systems.
The warning comes with the release of the 2022 report of the MJA-Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, a multi-disciplinary research collaboration that conducts annual assessments of Australia’s progress in tackling climate change and its health impacts.
This year’s review confirms Australians’ health is being jeopardised by increasing exposure to extreme fire danger, life-threatening heat, and severe drought; further, more people are being displaced by weather-related disasters. It also found that Australia’s health system capacity had deteriorated over the study period.
Key policy recommendations from the Countdown coalition include developing health and climate change plans at all levels of government; more consistently aligning government energy policies with the goals of the Paris Agreement; and incorporating environmental sustainability principles in an upcoming update of the Australian Dietary Guidelines.
You can read the full report here.
