Covid and Climate Change: Health perspectives from around the world
Health professionals and health organizations around the world are, rightly, primarily focused on the urgent and demanding work of responding to COVID-19. But just as doctors must pay attention to a patient’s underlying conditions and chronic diseases when treating them for an acute disease, we must continue to pay attention to climate change even while grappling with the global COVID-19 pandemic. Many in the health community are doing so – reflecting on the ways we might come out of this current health crises better prepared to avoid and tackle the next one. Articles are organized in reverse chronological order.
The Right To Breathe Clean Air
21 Sept 2020, David R. Boyd, United Nations Special Rapporteur On Human Rights And The Environment
Blue-sky thinking needed for a green and just recovery in cities
07 Sept 2020,Giuseppe Sala, Mayor of Milan
Integrating climate action for health into covid-19 recovery plans
02 Sept 2020, Kristine Belesova, David L Heymann, and Andy Haines.
Targeted change making for a healthy recovery
01 Sept 2020, Courtney Howard
‘Two global health emergencies’: doctors group backs green stimulus
11 August 2020, Nick O’Malley
Why medical students are calling for a healthy recovery
17 June 2020, Omnia El Omrani with Graça Machel, for The Elders
Why are we not speaking about the intersection of health and climate change?
5 June 2020, David Imbago Jácome with Ricardo Lagos, for The Elders
Green Hospitals Network di Indonesia
29 May 2020, Dr. H. Suherman, National Coordinator of the HPH Network of Indonesia and Pats Oliva, Communications Campaigner for HCWH Southeast Asia
Faire le choix de la santé pour prévenir une autre pandémie
27 May 2020, Courtney Howard et Claudel Pétrin-Desrosiers, Canadian Associations of Physicians for the Environment/ Association canadienne et québécoise des médecins pour l’environnement
Healthy lives depend on a healthy planet
26 May 2020, Howard Catton, International Council of Nurses
Millions of Nurses Call The World To Action #HealthyRecovery
25 May 2020, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments
Compound climate risks in the COVID-19 pandemic
15 May 2020, Union of Concerned Scientists
Letter to the government of New Zealand
3 May 2020, OraTaoio
Approving new fracking projects in the middle of a pandemic? Bad idea
29 April 2020, Amanda Millstein, MD, and Robert Dodge, MD, Urban Resilience Project
Lessons from the covid-19 pandemic provide a blueprint for the climate emergency
23 April 2020, Renee N. Salas
Frontline doctors speak out on Covid19 and climate change
23 April 2020, Doctors for the Environment Australia
Covid-19 and Climate: Implications for Public Health
22 April 2020, on Climate One, Barbara Gottlieb of Physicians for Social Responsibility
An open letter from the future generation of health professionals
22 April, 2020 supported by 12 million medical, nursing, and other health professional students. Also available in Spanish here
Medical Students Call On Us to Vote for Climate Action & Health
21 April 2020, Medical students for a Sustainable Future, a network of over 135 medical students in 27 U.S. states and the Caribbean who are committed to action around the health and social justice impacts of climate change.
A letter to US congress on COVID-19, Climate and Health
13 April 2020, Written by the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health
COVID and the Climate Crisis: Mobilizing Health for Common Solutions
31 March 2020, Webinar presented by Health Care Without Harm and the Skoll Foundation
Coronavirus is a wake-up call: our war with the environment is leading to pandemics
30 March 2020, Fiona Armstrong (CAHA), Anthony Capon and Ro McFarlane
WHO should declare climate change a public health emergency
30 March 2020, Andrew harmer, Ben Eder, Sophie Gepp, Anja leetz in The BMJ
Is the Coronavirus “good” for climate change? This question misses the point.
30 March 2020, Dr. Nicole de Paula, Dr. Kathleen A. Mar, IASS Potsdam
Talks For Future webinar on Climate change and COVID-19
27 March, 2020, Fridays for Future Webinar hosted by Greta Thunberg and Ariadne Papatheodoru with the Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum from the WHO climate team and Naomi Klein on climate activism in times of covid-19.
Coronavirus and the climate crisis: Common causes and shared solutions
26 March 2020, Josh Karliner, Health Care Without Harm
COVID-19 crisis is a tipping point. Will we invest in planetary health, or oil and gas?
24 March 2020, Opinion piece by Dr. Courtney Howard, emergency doctor in Yellowknife, Canada, president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, and board member of the Global Climate & Health Alliance.
COVID-19 : health emergency and climate emergency: an ecological vision and the community resilience
24 March 2020, Article by Domenico Vito
COVID-19: Is the global health megaphone on mute?
23 March 2020, Blog post from Global Health Council ED, Loyce Pace, deftly mentions climate change in the context of ensuring preparedness to prevent and respond to future disease outbreaks.
Coronavirus pandemic reiterates need to strengthen public health systems, review production and consumption patterns
23 March 2020, Opinion Article by Dr.K. Srinath Reddy-President, Public Health Foundation of India and Member of the National Task Force on COVID-19
El coronavirus nos obliga a reconsiderar la biodiversidad y su papel protector
20 March 2020, Fernando Valladares – Doctor en Biología-CSIC
Coronavirus threat greater for polluted cities
16 March 2020, European Public Health Alliance blog post on COVID-19 and air pollution.
A Tale of Two Emergencies
01 March 2020, Lancet Planetary Health editorial