Go to the NRHA’s How humans and the environment interact for a fascinating discussion of important new schools of thought about health.
‘Planetary health’ considers human health in the context of the health of civilisations and the state of natural systems. A planetary approach to health requires an understanding of the implications of what humans do for the natural world. It shapes an understanding of such things as climate change, the degradation of ecosystems and the loss of biodiversity.
One Health is an integrated approach to the health of people, animals and the environment. This approach has come into much sharper focus thanks to the pandemic.
Both approaches deal with the vexed issue of the distribution of assets and how the world can be shared more fairly, especially where future generations are concerned.
The Q&A features John Wakerman, Laura Weyrich, Tony Capon and Pierre Horwitz. They argue that economic targets should be based around sustainability rather than growth. This means that general progress indicators are better measures than GDP.
In focusing on health inequities more attention should be paid to inter-generational equity and safeguarding the health of future generations. We can learn from Indigenous ways of understanding health – as for land management.
Currently our institutions, our mindset and governance systems are segmented and don’t recognise interdependencies. Life expectancy has increased in many parts of the world but at the expense of the planet’s sustainability. Human kind needs to recognise that it is part of its surroundings, not apart from them.
The speakers point out that Australia’s response to climate change has been very poor compared with its actions to date on COVID-19.
Time is overdue for health professionals, individually and as a collective, to step up to political leadership on these critical and complex matters. To help with a truly interdisciplinary approach, health researchers and professionals should learn the language of other sectors and disciplines so they can better engage with them.