In December the president of the World Medical Association, Dr Leonid Eidelman, said reversing climate change could be the greatest health accomplishment of the 21st century.
Eidelman said if doctors want to fully uphold the Declaration of Geneva’s creed that “the health and wellbeing of my patient will be my first consideration”, they needed to take an active role in defending their patients from the adverse effects of climate change.
Doctors around the world take climate change seriously. We are not interested in the politics. We focus on the science. The evidence. The facts.
The American Medical Association and the British Medical Association have both declared a climate emergency regarding human health. Other medical associations and groups around the world are also in agreement.
Our decision to call climate change a health emergency is informed and considered and is the natural progression of our long-held policy.
The AMA has had formal policy on climate change and health since 2004. We update this policy regularly to reflect contemporary science, reports and evidence of the effects on human populations and the environment.
The AMA recognises that human health is ultimately dependent on the health of the planet and its ecosystem. Climate change is having significant impacts on human health and health systems, and these impacts will increase in severity as the planet warms.
The serious direct and indirect health impacts of climate change include mortality and morbidity resulting from heat stress and extreme weather events; an increase in the transmission of vector-borne diseases; food insecurity; mental ill-health; and negative effects from adverse changes in air pollution.
There is inequity in the distribution of these impacts both within and between countries.
Although there is an acknowledgement of the environmental harms associated with climate change, the connection between climate change and human health is less understood. National leadership and national coordination are required to draw attention to this issue and to implement interventions to mitigate the health impacts of climate change.
The health impacts of climate change will place increasing demand on the health system over time.
Australians of all ages need to be confident that they can continue to receive good quality timely access to their family doctor, and other health and medical professionals.
This will be especially important in emergency situations, where good communication and organisation in the health sector is paramount.
The government must take the lead in developing and coordinating a national strategy for climate change and health so Australia can respond effectively to the health impacts of climate change, extreme events, and to people’s medium- to long-term recovery needs.
Not every doctor will agree with our stance on climate change and health but there is a groundswell of support from the future leaders of the medical profession. Doctors in training and medical students rate climate change as one of the greatest challenges facing them as future doctors.
Our position on the climate health emergency may divide opinion and create debate – but it is a debate we have to have.