Global health bodies demanded governments to urgently phase out fossil fuels, accelerate renewable energy
Photo: iStock Health workers are witnessing the impact of climate change on the health of communities first hand, and to address this crisis, global health bodies representing more than three million medical professionals delivered an open letter calling for urgent action on climate change.
They demanded that all governments immediately cease expansion of new fossil fuel infrastructure and production. The letter was placed on day three of the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA) World Conference in Sydney.
WONCA 2023 from October 26-29 was hosted by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP). The conference theme is “Recovery, reconnection, and revival. A celebration of primary care”.
Representatives of the health bodies donned green to launch the open letter, which had 39 signatories, including the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Australia’s largest representative group for GPs. The signatories also included health bodies from Canada, India, Europe, Pacific nations and the United Kingdom.
The letter made the following recommendations for governments to follow at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28), which will be held from November 30 to December 12 this year:
Enrique Falceto de Barros, a rural Brazilian GP and climate advocate, said that WONCA recognised the climate emergency with many doctors wanting to talk to their patients about it, but do not feel prepared.
“In 2023, most of the states in Brazil experienced a historic heatwave in winter. While in southern states we had one of the most intense floods ever. So, Brazil has definitely entered the age of climate emergency,” the doctor added.
Maria Neira, WHO Director for the Department of Environmental, Climate Change and Health, in her address said: “We need a strong health voice at the climate change negotiations and COP28 will host the first-ever day dedicated to Health in the history of the climate negotiations. Health can be the ultimate motivation for more climate action, health professionals have a critical role to play.”
In another development, more than 200 medical journals came together to simultaneously publish an editorial that requested the United Nations, political leaders and health professionals to recognise that climate change and biodiversity loss are “one indivisible crisis” and must be addressed together.
The overall environmental crisis is now severe enough for WHO to declare a global health emergency, they added.
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