Doctor Jemilah, Dave, welcome. Doctor Jemilah, to you
first. How is climate change affecting health, access to
health care
now? What are we seeing?
Yeah, that's a really important question.
First of all, the impact of climate change on people's lives
are both direct and indirect.
So directly we've seen, for example, the recent heat waves
during the summer time where people have actually died as a
result, you know. Countries that may have not been expecting heat
waves have not adapted to dealing with heat.
On top of that, obviously, you know, flood cyclones have also
affected people's life directly.
Some have been drowned, some have been killed directly.
You know homes have been demolished because of disasters,
so those are, you know, some examples of direct impacts.
The indirect ones are also multifold.
For example, we know that with climate change there is a
different pattern of disease, particularly vector-borne
diseases.
So you will see rising cases of Dengue Fever, Zika virus,
Malaria, even. So much so that there has been a reported case
of Malaria in Washington, D.C. of someone who's never traveled,
or the rise of cases of Dengue Fever in Texas.
So, you know, so these changing patterns also mean that the
frequency of us getting, you know, these vector-borne
diseases will increase, and you know what happened when we got
COVID and the pandemic.
So, you know, these are the things that will happen.
Now on top of that, you know there are also other health
impacts, for example mental health, which is not talked
about enough.
You know, young people, older people are all affected directly
and indirectly by climate change, and there has been
serious pressure on mental health.
There have also been problems of undernutrition because climate
change also affects the quality of food we grow and the quantity
of crops that can grow.
So there will be a long-term impact on the food and nutrition
sector as well.
So I think, you know, it's a multitude of areas where health
is impacted.
And for sure, the link between climate change and health is now
something real, something that we need to speak out louder
about and educate people. So clearly, yeah, a big link
between the health of our planet and our own health.
But I imagine as the health of our planet sort of gets worse,
so will ours, and the situation will get worse.
Yeah.
No, absolutely, Georgie.
And you know, if you think about it, even in the best of times in
developing economies, you know, getting good access to health,
good nutrition, well-being is already a challenge.
Now if you think about what we have ahead of us, you know with
the changing climatic patterns, the increased heat, the stress
on water systems, the stress on food systems, we're going to see
a lot more of this, a lot more frequently and a lot more
widespread.
So, really the time to act and put it at the top of
decision-making priority is one for all of us to take.
So it leads to the question: what on earth can we do about
it?
Yeah, you know, add it to that as well.
You know, you rightly pointed out, Dave, the rising cost to
the health sector is going to be immense, right? From direct
damage to, you know, the things that you need to cope with.
You know, I remember my friends in the US saying to me they wish
they were in Asia because people didn't know about tropical
diseases there.
So how, you know, there's so much new things that have to be
developed.
But I think, you know, as someone who set up a planetary
health center, this is where I think it's time to connect the
dots.
So planetary health, you know, emerge out of, you know,
physicians and scientists coming together to say, "Hang on a
minute, there is a direct link between human health and the
health of human civilization with the natural systems on
which we depend.
And therefore we cannot be healthy without the health of
the planet."
And what it requires then is for us to relook at health as well.
You know, we often, when you think about health, you think
about hospital or doctor, you know, clinic.
But actually the determinants of health are economic, social,
behavioral, political, and definitely environmental.
So planetary health allows us to look at it from a systems
approach.
What are the systems shifts that need to happen for us to have
the health of humanity and the health of the planet preserved?
You know very, much in the the same light, Jemilah...
You know at this stage, there needs to be the best of climate
science, the the best of, you know, available data.
You know to the right decision makers, to make sense of the
issues right, to have a view of what are the implications, you
know, across all the different aspects of of how we live and
work, and using that as a way to then prioritize and deploy
resources and act.
Yeah.
I think that really is the the immediate you know agenda that I
feel is...
But if I may it must start from clear communications.
When you say, you know, when you talk about climate change in
terms of 1.5°, it doesn't mean anything to people on the
street.
So This is why you know the planetary health approach.
Putting health at the center of our climate discussions is
critical.
Everyone understands health, everyone knows that they want
good health, right?
So if you say to them that if you want to remain healthy,
climate change becomes a critical issue and we need to
now address all the underlying drivers on why we are in this
situation today, then you can center your discussions and
language that is understood easily.
We have to de jargonize science, right?
And make it understood to people.
Here's you, scientists, politicians, everyone business,
everyone scientists #1.
Because you know this, the reports are coming out from the
scientists, clinicians, doctors, we all have to talk about it.
You know the the challenge is this.
As a as a doctor myself, you know only less than 15% of
medical curriculum touch on climate change and it hasn't
changed since I graduated many, many, many years ago.
Right now the other thing is the health sector itself is a
polluter.
If the health industry worldwide was a country, it would be the
5th largest emitter in the world.
Health practitioners and health workers are trusted.
Our voice matters and we need to raise our voice, whether it's to
our patients, to our, you know, our policy makers, to our
politicians.
You know, we need to now really use that momentum from this COP
28 that has finally put health as a central agenda to the
climate discussions to propel the dialogue, the advocacy and
the action that he needs to follow.
George Miller, Dave, thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thanks.