September 2024 climate and health round-up
Many thanks to everyone who has signed up and for the encouraging feedback! I want these round-ups to be as useful as possible. Do let me know if you find something here that’s particularly helpful to you. And please do share this post with your networks.
Here’s what caught my eye this month.
Research: Impacts of flooding
There are multiple health issues associated with flooding, including those related to water and food safety, mental health issues, and the disruption to healthcare services. This month, there were serious floods in central and eastern Europe, resulting in evacuations, power outages, and disruption to supplies of drinking water.
A case series from Greece, published in Infectious Disease Reports, examined the impact of flooding on incidence of leptospirosis in Thessaly, a region which experienced severe flooding in September 2023. They found an increase in cases and describe that, “the majority (84.6%) of leptospirosis cases were associated with contact with floodwater, typically occurring while wading to inspect the surroundings of their homes or during the clean-up process.”
In a separate paper, published in the One Health journal, a team from Brazil explored the connection between floods and antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Review: How will climate change impact people working in healthcare?
A rapid review, conducted by a team in Canada, explored the available scientific literature on the impacts of climate change on the health system workforce. The review was published in The Journal of Climate Change and Health.
It identified themes including occupational health impacts, burn-out and psychosocial impacts, and adaptive strategies including preparing and planning for emergencies, and providing support.
The authors conclude, “Given that health system workers are typically members of the communities that they serve, more attention and planning is required to enable [them] to undertake the types of systems-wide transformation that will mitigate the climate impacts of the health system and support adaptation efforts that protect the health of their communities.”
Research: Planetary health diet and cardiovascular health
The EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, and Health proposed ‘the Planetary Health Diet’, as guidance on eating for health and sustainability. It is described as ‘plant-forward’, with an emphasis on wholegrains, fruit, vegetables, nuts and legumes.
In the September edition of The Lancet Planetary Health, a team of researchers explain their work looking at the diet through the lens of cardiovascular disease risk.
They worked on data from three large US cohorts (with 4,541,980 person-years of follow-up) and used scores to evaluate the reported diets. Higher scores indicated diets closer to the planetary health diet. Participants with the highest scores had a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, and stroke.
They conclude that, “These observations support the Planetary Health Diet as a promising strategy to promote both human and planetary health.”
Analysis: Delivering sustainable healthcare
A team from the Scottish Clinical Leadership Fellowship Programme conducted a ‘forcefield analysis’ (excellent name) to identify the barriers to designing and delivering sustainable healthcare in Scotland and the things that will facilitate it. The research was published in the Future Healthcare Journal.
They identified 12 key barriers, which were organised into four themes: lack of resource; resistance to change; complexity; and lack of leadership. The team also identified 12 facilitators arranged into: organisational vision; empowerment; resources; and collaboration.
Funding: Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme
Phase four of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme is getting underway. The scheme provides grant funding for the installation of heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures to public sector organisations, mainly in England.
Guidance notes and eligibility criteria are available, and there will be several webinars to give more information and the opportunity to ask questions. Most of the webinars are for any public sector organisation, but there are specific sessions for the health sector on Tuesday 15th October at 2pm and Tuesday 5 November at 2pm.
Applications close on 25th November.
Funding: Climate and mental health
The Wellcome Trust has announced a climate and mental health funding award for projects that will, “advance our understanding of how heat impacts anxiety, depression and psychosis in the most impacted groups globally through biological, psychological and/or social mechanisms”.
The funding window will open next week and the application deadline is 21 January 2025. (Want me on your team? Get in touch!)
Wellcome is hosting a webinar about the funding on Wednesday 9th October, 9.30-10.30am (UK)
Events: CSH networks and the NHS Forest conference
The networks of the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare (CSH) are putting on some interesting events over the next few weeks. Tomorrow, the kidney care network is hosting a talk on ‘green haemodialysis’, based on work in Italy. The next women’s health network event (16th October) has a focus on equity, and the next surgical care network event (10th October) is taking an international view, with speakers from India, USA and the UK.
Interested in how trees and green spaces can be integrated into NHS health settings? The NHS Forest conference is definitely for you. The programme is themed around trees for sustainability, trees for clinical practice, and trees for community. Attend remotely, or if you can get to Leicester, there’s talk of a tour of Glenfield Hospital’s ‘secret garden’ (so tempting!). The conference is on Friday 4th October, 10am-4pm (UK).
Lecture: Climate crisis, cities and health
The Academy of Medical Sciences and The Lancet are hosting a lecture on the climate crisis, cities and health.
The lecture will be given by Professor Mark J Nieuwenhuijsen, Director of the Urban Planning, Environment and Health Initiative and Head of the Climate, Air Pollution, Nature and Urban Health Research Programme at ISGlobal (the Barcelona Institute for Global Health). The lecture will explore the role cities can take in climate action and improving health, including new urban models such as low-traffic neighbourhoods.
The lecture is taking place on Thursday 17th October, 3.30-5.30pm (UK).
Workshop: Public procurement of legumes
I have a soft spot for work around public procurement – and I’m a big fan of legumes in terms of health and sustainability – so I love the sound of this workshop.
It’s a half-day event at the University of Leeds for public procurers and anyone interested in building demand for agroecologically grown pulses in the North of England.
The workshop is scheduled for Thursday 17th October, 1-4.15pm. (I’d love to hear about this if you go to it!)
Paid fellowships: Climate change and health
The Pasteur Network is currently recruiting several research fellows in low- and middle-income countries to advance understanding of climate change impacts on health.
But be quick! The application deadline is tomorrow (26th September).
What else is catching my eye?
Here’s what I’m reading / loved this idea in Copenhagen / London dinner plans.
Thanks for this awesome round up, Greta! What a fantastic resource for all! I'm getting a copy of "Ocean of Insight" as we speak--it sounds inspiring. As a public health/climate health professional who grows weary of reading about and interfacing with the day-to-day of climate change and ecocide, I long to retreat to the natural world for longer and longer periods so this tale sounds like a dream! I look forward to more of your posts and thanks again.