An exciting panel of leading health experts and educators discussed health workforce education and training, and climate action.
Climate change presents a fundamental threat to human health. It affects the physical environment where people are ‘born, grow, live work and age’ and ecosystems on which communities depend for their health, wellbeing, livelihoods, and survival. Climate-sensitive health risks are disproportionately felt by the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, including women, children, ethnic minorities, poor communities, migrants or displaced persons, older populations, and those with underlying health conditions.
A Health in All policies approach can contribute to improved governance and communication for climate action and planetary health through multisectoral collaboration at global, national, and local levels. Consequently, integrating the social determinants of health into health workforce education and training recognizes the synergistic links between a flourishing planet, equity and good human health. It is a vital strategy to strengthen the critical role health workers play in undertaking urgent and transformative actions for humanity and the planet.
Listen to the event recording.
Agenda
Introductory remarks and keynote
- Nicole Valentine, Department of Social Determinants of Health (SDH), World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
- Jim Campbell, Director, Health Workforce Department, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
- Julian Fisher, Hannover Medical School, Germany.
- Ezekiel J. Emanuel, University of Pennsylvania, United States of America.
Panel discussion
- Andrew Hoffmann, Dean of Veterinary Medicine, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, United States of America.
- Onyema Ajuebor, Technical Officer, Health Workforce Department, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
- Thorkild Tylleskär, Professor of Paediatrics/Global Health, University of Bergen, Norway.
- Rayana Bou Haka, World Health Organization Representative to the Government of Qatar.
Closing remarks
- Nicole Valentine, Department of Social Determinants of Health (SDH), World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
Webinar outcomes
The webinar deliberations fleshed out the critical linkages between climate change and health workforce development and action. It helped to portray how the problem of climate change can be viewed through a tangible trans-boundary, multi-level, systems, and sector wide lens. Indicating that the development of appropriate health services and infrastructure, as well as the health workforce capacity to address climate change, must therefore require a similar broad thinking and approach. Key outcomes are further outlined below:
- Efforts should be made to accelerate climate change science, and to improve transdisciplinary education and lifelong learning systems to address health emergency preparedness, to ensure strengthened evidence-based policies and decision-making, including at the community level.
- Health security should be strengthened at the nexus of human, animal, and environmental health, as effectively anticipating, preventing and managing health emergencies will require a whole-of-society, whole-of-government, One Health, multi-level engagement approach.
- Health in All Policies and intersectoral action should be constructed using bottom-up approaches to ensure that health and care workers are sufficiently engaged and empowered to act at all levels, particularly at the community level.
- The recent WHO publication, Integrating the social determinants of health into health workforce education and training, is an important foundational resource to the broaden transformative health workforce education agenda to address social and environmental determinants of health.
Listen to the event recording.