Medical Waste, A Call to Action for Health Care. Find out why incineration is harmful and about better alternatives for medical waste treatment. enlarge video
WHO-HCWH Climate Report
Healthy Hospitals, Healthy Planet, Healthy People: Addressing Climate Change in Health Care Settings (pdf)
Healthy Hospitals, Healthy Planet, Healthy People: Addressing Climate Change in Health Care Settings (pdf)
Gary Cohen, Uncommon Hero
HCWH's co-founder Gary Cohen is a recipient of the prestigious Skoll Award. This video, chronicling the evolution of HCWH's work, premiered at the 2009 Skoll World Forum. enlarge video
HCWH's co-founder Gary Cohen is a recipient of the prestigious Skoll Award. This video, chronicling the evolution of HCWH's work, premiered at the 2009 Skoll World Forum. enlarge video
More Quotes on Climate
Climate and Health Literacy Consortium
"Climate change is the biggest global health threat of the 21st century ... the impacts will be felt all around the world — and not just in some distant future but in our lifetimes and those of our children." — The Lancet, 2009
"Climate change represents an inevitable, massive threat to global health that will likely eclipse the major known pandemics as the leading cause of death and disease in the 21st century ... The health of the world population must be elevated in this discussion from an afterthought to a central theme around which decision-makers construct rational, well informed action-orientated climate change strategies."
— Dr. Dana Hanson
President, World Medical Association
President, World Medical Association
"A new advocacy and public health movement is needed urgently to bring together governments, international agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), communities, and academics from all disciplines to adapt to the effects of climate change on health. Any adaptation should sit alongside the need for primary mitigation: reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and the need to increase carbon biosequestration through reforestation and improved agricultural practices. The recognition by governments and electorates that climate change has enormous health implications should assist the advocacy and political change needed to tackle both mitigation and adaptation."
"The relationship between climate change and global health is unmistakable. This is a critical time for public health advocates to demand that political leaders safeguard the health of the world's population, with particular attention to the survival needs of the most disadvantaged."
— The International Response to Climate Change, An Agenda for Global Health Lindsay F. Wiley, JD, MPH; Lawrence O. Gostin, JD , JAMA. 2009;302(11):1218-1220
"As leaders of physicians across many countries, we call on doctors to demand that their politicians listen to the clear facts that have been identified in relation to climate change and act now to implement strategies that will benefit the health of communities worldwide."
— Taken from a letter published in the Lancet
and the British Medical Journal, September 2009,
and signed by those named below
and the British Medical Journal, September 2009,
and signed by those named below
- Victor Lim, Academy of Medicine of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Joseph W Stubbs, American College of Physicians, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Nazmun Nahar, Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons, Dhaka, Bangladesh
- Naomali Amarasena, Ceylon College of Physicians, Colombo, Sri Lanka
- Zafar Ullah Chaudry, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan, Karachi, Pakistan
- Steven Chow Kim Weng, College of Physicians of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Bongani Mayosi, College of Physicians of South Africa, Rondebosch, South Africa
- Zephne van der Spuy, Colleges of Medicine of South Africa, Rondebosch, South Africa
- Raymond Liang, Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, Hong Kong, SAR China
- Kar Neng Lai, Hong Kong College of Physicians, Hong Kong, SAR China
- Geoffrey Metz, Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- G. William N. Fitzgerald, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada
- Brian Williams, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
- Neil Douglas, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
- John Donohoe, Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland
- Somwang Darnchaivijr, Royal College of Physicians of Thailand, Bangkok, Thailand
- Patrick Coker, West African College of Physicians, Lagos, Nigeria
- Ian Gilmore, Royal College of Physicians of London, London NW1 4LE, UK
Key Resources
- Addressing Climate Change in the Health Care Setting: Opportunities for Action (pdf)
Outlines seven steps health care systems can take to reduce their climate footprint while improving public health, and presents examples from around the world - Carbon Reduction for Health Systems
Learn more at the website of the NHS Sustainable Development Unit, UK - Climate Change and Human Health: A Nurse's Call to Action
- Climate Change and Human Health: Present and Future Risks (pdf)
- Climate Change and the Role of the Health Care Professional: Education, Mitigation, Adaptation
- Co-Benefits to Health of a Strong EU Climate Change Policy (pdf)
- Healthy Hospitals, Healthy Planet, Healthy People: Addressing Climate Change in Health Care Settings (pdf)
Aims at addressing the climate footprint of the health sector - Lancet Series report on Health and Climate Change
- Making the Case for Policy Makers (pdf)
- World Health Organization website for information about Climate and Health
The Impact of Climate Change on Health: Most people now know that climate change is a serious issue. Few, however, are aware of the extraordinary impacts that climate change will have specifically on health. The Climate Code Green Campaign addresses the impact of climate change on health. enlarge video
