Health promotion and climate change: exploring the core competencies required for action

Abstract

Climate change poses serious threats to human health and well-being. It exacerbates existing health inequities, impacts on the social determinants of health and disproportionately affects vulnerable populations. In the Australian region these include remote Aboriginal communities, Pacific Island countries and people with low incomes. Given health promotion's remit to protect and promote health, it should be well placed to respond to emerging climate-related health challenges. Yet, to date, there has been little evidence to demonstrate this. This paper draws on the findings of a qualitative study conducted in Victoria, Australia to highlight that; while there is clearly a role for health promotion in climate change mitigation and adaptation at the national and international levels, there is also a need for the engagement of health promoters at the community level. This raises several key issues for health promotion practice. To be better prepared to respond to climate change, health promotion practitioners first need to re-engage with the central tenets of the Ottawa Charter, namely the interconnectedness of humans and the natural environment and, secondly, the need to adopt ideas and frameworks from the sustainability field. The findings also open up a discussion for paradigmatic shifts in health promotion thinking and acting in the context of climate change.

Urbanisation, climate change and health equity: how can health promotion contribute?

“…The significance for the health promotion workforce of the evidence in Table 1, along with the 'heat' and 'food' examples, is that practitioners need to develop a sophisticated understanding of the complexity and implications of climate change science for urban settings. The inclusion of climate change and health-related education for sustainability in health promotion degrees and professional development programmes will contribute to building the competencies of the workforce (Patrick et al 2012). Best practice will ensure that health promotion programmes conducted in urban settings do not inadvertently contribute to climate change (e.g.…”

“…social-ecological approach to health), seminal health promotion declarations and practice synergies (e.g. Healthy Cities movement), health promotion has been slow to engage in policy and action on contemporary environmental challenges such as climate change and urbanisation (Butler and Friel 2006;Poland, Dooris, and Haluza-DeLay 2011;Patrick et al 2012). This lack of engagement is thought to stem from three core problems: first, that health promotion practice has overlooked the ecological determinants of health 4 in favour of the social determinants of health; second, that health promotion has inadequately theorised the role of the natural environment as a determinant of human health and equity; and third, that the statements about global change and the link between human health and ecosystem health in key declarations have not been strong enough (Butler and Friel 2006;Hancock 2007;Masuda, Poland, and Baxter 2010;Poland, Dooris, and Haluza-DeLay 2011).…”

“…The WHO (1997, 10) brought 'together the main thinking about local Agenda 21 work and Healthy City projects and explored the challenges underpinning the two movements'. Despite these initial commitments, there is very little evidence to demonstrate where and how Healthy Cities programmes have evolved to explicitly address environmental or sustainability threats to human health and well-being (Bentley 2007;Patrick et al 2012).…”

Spatially identifying vulnerable communities to climate change impact in South Australia

“…These effects are observed more commonly in vulnerable populations including the elderly (Abrahamson et al 2008), people with chronic illness, those living in urban centres (Luber andMcGeehin 2008, White-Newsome et al 2009), remote Aboriginal communities (Patrick et al 2012), and migrants and ethnic minorities (Matthies et al 2008, Uejio et al 2011, Yardley et al 2011. The elderly are among the most at risk due to decreased mobility resulting from age, changes in physiology, and more restricted access to resources, all of which limit adaptive capacity (Filiberto et al 2009, Hansen et al 2011.…”

Climate change: an opportunity for health promotion practitioners?

“…The Charter also puts health on the agenda of policy makers in all sectors and at all levels, allowing co-benefits for health through measures against climate change. Promotion in 2010-Health, Equity and Sustainable Development-specifically addressed ''ways to achieve healthy people on a healthy planet'' (IUHPE 2010), ''A step in the right direction to galvanize support and mobilize the health promotion workforce'' for some experts (Patrick et al 2012). -Fourth, the 2013 International Conference-FranceQuebec-Africa: Adaptation to climate change and public health, can we do better?-calls for ''actions to be taken to develop innovative solutions to reduce climate change risks and impacts on public health'' (Conférence France-Québec-Afrique 2013), including the transformation of cities (e.g., greening cities, fight against heat islands, install reflective white roofs, etc.).…”