Resources
Below we’ve included some of the resources that we have found helpful.
Student Organizations
Medical Students for a Sustainable Future (MS4SF) is a network of medical students in the United States who recognize climate change as an urgent threat to health and social justice and is focused on catalyzing action to prevent and address the health harms of climate change. MS4SF is a close partner of PHRC.
Students for Global Health is a youth-led advocacy organisation in the UK working for a fair and just world in which health equity is a reality for all. Over the course of the 2020/21 year, SfGH’s major theme for their campaigning was climate change and health. Students for Global Health is a proud partner of the Planetary Health Report Card Initiative. If you’d like to follow up the PHRC report cards with campaigning for climate change and health to be on the curriculum at your university, get in touch with your local SfGH branch or the national team at coordinatedtheme@studentsforglobalhealth.org.
The European Medical Students´ Association – Association Européenne des Étudiants en Médecine (EMSA) is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation representing medical students from all across Europe. Founded in 1990 in Brussels, it is the only voice of students within the European Medical Organisations. EMSA is recognised by the European Parliament, the European Commission, and the United Nations. The association provides a platform for high-level advocacy, projects, trainings, workshops and international meetings. Its activities gather around Medical Education, Medical Ethics and Human Rights, Health Policy, Public Health, Medical Science and European Integration and Culture.
Curriculum and Education
If you are interested in further resources on incorporating Climate Change and Health into your medical school curriculum, please reference MS4SF’s Guide to Climate and Health Curriculum Reform in Medical Schools. This Guide includes example syllabi for courses, Problem Based Learning, and electives.
If you have been working on a curriculum and would like for it to be included in our guide please upload the appropriate documents here. We are also accepting letters to deans, lecture PowerPoints, or proposals related to implementing Climate and Health curriculum in medical schools.
The Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education (GCCHE) is a division of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. The GCCHE has convened an advisory council of global experts to prepare resources for all schools of medicine, nursing, and public health to use in teaching the health impacts of climate change. Their website contains a compilation of educational resources, including textbooks, videos, syllabi, program plans, MOOCs and online courses for educators. We’ve included some direct links to these resources and others below:
Education for Sustainable Healthcare – a UK Curriculum is a comprehensive curriculum endorsed by the Medical Schools Council in the UK. The document thoroughly goes through why there is a need for an ESH curriculum and then the suggested content, including sections for each specialty. As well as the detailed content with many references, the document in itself can also be used as an advocacy tool as it is the first national curriculum published and endorsed by a national representative body for medical schools.
The Planetary Health Alliance hosts a wealth of open-access, globally-accessible educational resources, including general resources and resources specific to various levels of education. In 2021 they published an open access framework for the incorporation of planetary health education into all disciplines. It is a great place to start if you want to learn more about planetary health. They’ve also compiled educational resources according to according to content area linked to directly below.
The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment is a Canadian-based nonprofit organization dedicated to the intersections of health and environmental issues. They have developed a Climate Change Toolkit for Health Professionals, consisting of eight standalone modules. The toolkit is a helpful tool for healthcare professionals and students who want to engage with climate change as learners, educators, or advocates.
This set of nine short slide decks created by the University of Minnesota can be utilized to introduce the connection between climate change and health to health professionals. They are intended to be used by instructors and programs when teaching about the connection between climate and health in existing courses. Topics include:
Nutritank CIC is an innovative information hub of food, nutrition and lifestyle medicine. Promoting the need for greater nutrition and lifestyle medicine education within healthcare training and empowering healthcare professionals and students to look after their physical health and mental wellbeing. Join the movement to bring greater nutrition and lifestyle medicine education nationwide.
Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA) has developed an easy to use tool for integration of climate and health education into undergraduate medical education. The toolkit identifies relevant planetary health learning outcomes by body system. More info about the DEA and their work can be found below.
Research and Data
The Lancet Planetary Health, is a gold open access journal that publishes peer reviewed research and reviews as well as comment and reportage broadly encompassing sustainable development (the SDG’s) and global environmental change.
The Lancet Countdown is a collaboration of over 120 leading experts from academic institutions and UN agencies across the globe, bringing together climate scientists, engineers, energy specialists, economists, political scientists, public health professionals and doctors. Each year the findings of this collaboration are published annually in medical journal The Lancet ahead of the UN climate change negotiations, with the aim of describing how climate change is affecting health, the consequences of delayed action and the health benefits of a robust response. The 2019 report, along with previous reports, are available here.
The Climate Health Alliance was formed in 2011. Alliance members are health and development organizations from around the world, united by a shared vision of a sustainable future. Members support efforts in leadership, advocacy, policy, research, and education. Their website contains a library of documents and materials produced by Alliance members and colleagues in the health sector. The materials cover a variety of themes around the topic of the impact of climate change on health including:
The Climate Impact Lab is a unique collaboration of 30 climate scientists, economists, computational experts, researchers, analysts and students from leading research institutions. They use a data driven approach to quantify climate impacts and provide quality health research.
SHADE is a research hub that sits at the intersection of Sustainability, Health, AI, Digital technologies and the Environment. It was formed in September 2023 in recognition of the increasing demand for AI and digitally enabled health on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the growing desire to consider environmental sustainability. SHADE promotes interdisciplinary enquiry, undertaking both normative and solutions based research. Its global membership includes academics as well as societal actors.
SHADE publishes a fortnightly newsletter bringing you a selection of the latest news, podcasts, publications, upcoming events and opportunities in the SHADE space.
Sustainability
Practice Greenhealth is one of the health care sector’s go-to sources for information, tools, data, resources, and expert technical support on sustainability initiatives. Their website contains a number of tools and resources to be utilized by hospitals, health care systems and health care providers seeking to reduce their environmental footprint.
Greener Practice is a group of GPs, medical students and others in the UK who recognise that the climate crisis is the leading public health issue of our generation. It aims to be a one stop shop for GPs to engage with decarbonisation, encompassing a wide range of resources for GPs to support them in their decarbonisation journey.
The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare is a charity supporting the NHS and other health systems to reach net zero carbon and wider sustainability through transformation of clinical specialties and green space programmes. They have excellent education resources for medical educators, have a sustainable primary care network forum and run various courses such as:
The Sustainability in Quality Improvement (SusQI) website is an invaluable open access learning resource launched in November 2020. It is a toolkit for integrating sustainability into your quality improvement project or teaching. It is extremely comprehensive and includes project resources, educator packs and case studies.
Revolution-ZERO is a UK-based organisation overcoming the key barriers associated with the sustainable, socially responsible and environmentally friendly provision of face-masks and PPE for health and social care organisations, wider industry and the public. Revolution-ZERO masks and other PPE are both zero carbon and zero waste. They offer a fully circular cradle to cradle service. @RevolutionZERO1
Advocacy
The UK Health Alliance on Climate Change (UKHACC) is a UK based organisation which brings together health professionals to advocate for just responses to the climate and ecological crisis, promote the health benefits that flow from those responses, and empower members and health professionals to make changes in their professional and personal lives to respond to the crisis. Their vision is for a just, sustainable, healthy world. The PHRC is a member organisation of UKHACC since August 2022 and we look forward to collaborating with UKHACC to achieve this vision.
Irish Doctors for the Environment (IDE) is a group of doctors and medical students in the Irish Healthcare System, encompassing a broad spectrum of specialties who all believe in one thing: environmental health is human health. The group aims to create awareness, interest and implement action around environment health and the impact it has on patients’ health.
Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA) is an organisation of medical professionals that protect human health through care of the environment. The devastating impacts of climate change on human health and the solutions needed to address this grave threat are a major focus of our work. Based in Australia, their website has a good resources section – linked here – and also a useful curriculum mapping tool for integrating climate and health education – linked here.
Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) mobilizes physicians and health professionals to advocate for climate solutions and a nuclear weapons-free world. PSR’s health advocates contribute a ‘health voice’ to energy, environmental health and nuclear weapons policy at the local, federal and international level. PSR uses the lens of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice, to promote intersectional approaches to solve issues of social responsibility, especially gravest existential threats to society. We remain rooted in our values and expertise of medicine and public health, working to protect human life from the gravest threats to health and survival.
Health Declares is grassroots group of healthcare professionals, lobbying our institutions to declare a climate & ecological emergency, and take action.
Tun S, Wellbery C, Teherani A. Faculty development and partnership with students to integrate sustainable healthcare into health professions education. Medical Teacher. Published online August 7, 2020:1-7. doi: 10.1080/0142159X.2020.1796950
The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment is a Canadian-based nonprofit organization dedicated to the intersections of health and environmental issues. They have developed a Climate Change Toolkit for Health Professionals, consisting of eight standalone modules. The toolkit is a helpful tool for healthcare professionals and students who want to engage with climate change as learners, educators, or advocates.
