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Author Archive for CAHA – Page 2

The health sector as a leader in low carbon transformation

by CAHA
November 18th, 2014

Greening the healthcare sector Think Tank

14 October 2014
Mater Hospital, Brisbane 

A discussion by the health sector about accelerating progress towards sustainable healthcare and hospital practices

You can now download the full report 

Background

The third annual Think Tank provided the opportunity for the health care sector to discuss case studies of change, national and international opportunities for collaboration, and contribute to a discussion to accelerate progress towards sustainable healthcare and hospital practices.

The Think Tank was hosted by the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association and Climate and Health Alliance in partnership with the international coalition of health care organisations, the Global Green and Healthy Hospitals network. The meeting was held on 14 October 2014 at the Mater Health Services in Brisbane. The 30 participants were from 25 organisations including hospitals, health care services and peak bodies, state government health departments, professional associations, universities and advocacy groups.

Think tank results

  • Enabled presentation and discussion of key issues including engagement of management and staff; waste and utility management; data management and reporting
  • Highlighted successful case studies and opportunities for national and international collaboration
  • Enabled knowledge sharing and networking amongst participants
  • Identified and prioritised a set of challenges for consideration by AHHA and CAHA
  • Raised awareness of greening health care issues and meeting outputs amongst broader health care stakeholders through social media.

Common factors that can support success

  1. Behavioural change will begin with a change in thinking – move from a medical to social model of health
  2. Imperative to have executive support which is then also reflected in strategy and planning
  3. Imperative to have multiple ways to engage staff but this needs to be backed by support for them to act
  4. Network to share innovation, success, research, learning: someone, somewhere is tackling your problem
  5.  ‘Waste’ is an effective starting point enabling tangible gains that can leverage support
  6. Lack of a definition of ‘sustainable healthcare’ for use by the sector
  7. A perceived disconnect between sustainability and healthcare resulting in low priority for sustainability
  8. Gaining support within health care organisations and across the sector
  9. Obtaining long term, external funding for sustainability activities

Top challenges identified by participants

  1. Lack of a definition of ‘sustainable healthcare’ for use by the sector
  2. A perceived disconnect between sustainability and healthcare resulting in low priority for sustainability
  3. Gaining support within health care organisations and across the sector
  4. Obtaining long term, external funding for sustainability activities

Presentations

  1. Engaging staff to achieve institution-wide sustainability goals
  2. Sustainable futures for rural healthcare
  3. Global Green & Healthy Hospitals Connect: A platform for global collaboration to accelerate low carbon transformation in healthcare
  4. Advances in water and waste management
  5. What is the Australasian Healthcare Infrastructure Alliance doing to promote environmental sustainability?
  6. Snapshot of Victoria’s environmental data management system

 

 

Categories Uncategorized
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Are you going to stand back and let the coal industry determine our future? Or are you going to fight for it?

by CAHA
November 14th, 2014

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

As you know, the G20 Leaders Summit is on this weekend in Brisbane and world leaders are gathering to talk about issues ranging from development, employment, taxation, infrastructure, investment and trade.

But not climate change.

Meanwhile the coal industry is at the G20, working to secure greater subsidies and less regulation of their deadly product. Coal causes hundreds of thousands of premature deaths each year, largely from exposure to air pollution from coal fired power plants in developing nations.

Leading climate and energy scientists from around the world say any further expansion of coal is incompatible with avoiding dangerous climate change. Coal must be quickly substituted for zero emission technologies, and the majority of fossil fuel reserves must stay in the ground.

However the Prime Minister Tony Abbott declared “coal is good for humanity” and “coal is essential for the prosperity of the world”.

The Qld Premier Campbell Newman recently claimed those opposing Australia’s coal exports are “condemning people in China, but particularly in India, who live in poverty, condemning them to that poverty.”

He went on to say: “To take 1.3 billion people in India out of poverty is going to require significant energy, and coal particularly is what they’re after.”

India doesn’t want our coal

This might come as something of a surprise to the people of India, wrote Indian energy policy analyst Shankar Sharma in an open letter to the Qld Premier last week:

“This statement, if reported correctly, indicates to me that you did not have the benefit of effective briefing by your officers.

Not only is it “highly irrational to assume that everyone in 1.3 billion is poor,” writes Mr Sharma, but “it is surprising that it seems that you have not been briefed on the social and environmental aspects of burning large quantities of coal in a densely populated and resource constrained country like India.”

The Indian Energy Minister Piyush Goyal has just told the World Economic Forum they will be investing US$100bn in renewable energy in the next five years.

Coal isn’t the answer to energy access. Access to electricity for poor people in the developing world can be provided much more cheaply and cleanly with renewable energy, with none of the risks to health posed by fossil fuels, or the associated greenhouse gas emissions.

The coal industry plan to expand, regardless of the damage they cause

Coal industry leaders know their days are numbered. That’s why they have engaged Burson-Marsteller, the PR company which handled the PR for the 1984 Union Carbide gas leak in Bhopal, India and formerly made a living spruiking the benefits of tobacco.

Now they’ve helped Peabody Energy and others set up the Advanced Energy for Life campaign, aimed at influencing world leaders to help them “fight energy poverty” and suggesting that without access to coal, the developed world will forever be consigned to poverty. In an extraordinary display of hubris, they even claim “coal is key to human health and welfare, along with a clean environment.”

As they make plain in this video, their goal is to secure policy commitments from world leaders at the G20 that support the expansion of coal.

We can’t let this happen!

As health and medical professionals, we can’t just stand back and allow the coal industry to wreck the planet and cause the deaths of thousands of people in this callous and calculated pursuit of profit.

The industry is on the attack – just last week, when CAHA President and Australian National University climate and health researcher Dr Liz Hanna responded to the sobering findings of the latest IPCC report by pointing to the dangers of Australian coal exports, Minerals Council CEO Brendan Pearson responded by suggesting Dr Hanna was “unable to distinguish between ideological prejudice and scholarship”!

What can you do?

Write a letter to the editor or an opinion piece for publication in one of the major newspapers or online publications expressing your concerns about the unfettered expansion of coal in Australia and the risks it poses to people’s health and the climate.

Contact details:

Courier Mail use this online form

Brisbane Times use this online form

The Australian [email protected]

Sydney Morning Herald [email protected]

The Age use this online form

The Adelaide Advertiser use this online form

The Canberra Times [email protected]

The West Australian [email protected]

The Hobart Mercury use this online form

Northern Territory News use this online form

Croakey (health blog at Crikey) [email protected]

Climate Spectator [email protected]

Renew Economy [email protected]

The New Daily [email protected]

Hit the airwaves

ABC Radio Brisbane 1300 222 612

4BC 13 13 32

ABC Radio National 1300 225 576

Get cracking on social media

  • Twitter – tweet the Premier @theqldpremier and let him know your thoughts on the matter (use these hash tags: #climate #coal #climate2014 #renewables #G20)
  • Facebook – share these infographics here here and here and some of the links below

Need more information?

Here are some links to recent reports:

  • Lagging Behind: Australia and the Global Response to Climate Change (The Climate Council)
  • The fossil fuel bailout: G20 subsidies for oil, gas and coal exploration (Overseas Development Institute / Oil Change International)
  • Fossil fuel exploration subsidies: Australia (Overseas Development Institute / Oil Change International)
  • Energy access (Carbon Tracker)
  • Mining the age of entitlement (The Australia Institute)
  • The mouse that roars: Coal in the Queensland economy (The Australia Institute)
  • Unburnable carbon (Carbon Tracker)

Here are some useful newspaper articles:

  • Take it from us: India needs renewables, not more Australian coal (The Guardian)
  • Solar, not coal, best option for world’s poor – IEA (RenewEconomy)
  • Renewables as clean as you would expect (Scientific American)
  • ‘Coal exports a killer for thousands’, says ANU academic Elizabeth Hanna (The Australian)
  • Not so cheap: Australia needs to acknowledge the real cost of coal (The Conversation)
  • Australia, India’s dirty energy friend (SBS News)
  • Tony’s Abbott’s ‘coal is good’ line is familiar, and troubling (The Guardian)

Here are some recent health / medical journal articles:

  • A critical decade for energy transitions (Australian New Zealand Journal of Public Health)
  • Climate change: health risks mount while Nero fiddles (Medical Journal of Australia)
  • Open letter to the Hon Tony Abbott MP urging the Prime Minister to include human-induced climate change and its serious health consequences on the agenda at the G20 (Medical Journal of Australia)

Here are some resources on coal and health:

  • Health and Energy Choices Position Paper (PHAA, ANMF, SARRAH, NTN, AMSA, WHE, CAHA)
  • Joint statement on Health Effects of Coal (CAHA and Climate Council)
  • The unpaid health bill (Health and Environment Alliance)
  • Health and Energy Policy: Briefing Paper (CAHA)
  • The Human Cost of Power (CAHA and PHAA)
  • How coal burns Australia (DEA)

More useful resources on http://endcoal.org/

Categories Coal, Energy, Energy policy, Health professionals, Public health, Public policy, Research, Uncategorized
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Tribute to Professor Tony McMichael

by CAHA
October 2nd, 2014

It is with great sadness that CAHA received news of Professor Emeritus A.J. (Tony) McMichael’s death last week from complications associated with influenza.

It is no understatement to say the climate and health world globally is reeling from the loss of a giant among men, a visionary intellectual, public health champion and extraordinary human being.

His colleague and friend Professor Colin Butler has penned the following blog, which is being updated with tributes: click to read the blog

Melissa Sweet from Croakey has written the following blog, which is also being updated: click here to read

The British Medical Journal, The Lancet, Environmental Health Perspectives are all planning obituaries.

CAHA Convenor Fiona Armstrong writes:
“Like many others, I was inspired to work in climate and health from reading Tony’s research. I consider myself extraordinarily fortunate to have had the benefit of his wise counsel since CAHA was established in 2010. He was a quiet champion of CAHA’s work, an inspiration and guide.”

Watch this video of Tony’s speech at the launch of the CAHA/The Climate Institute report, Our Uncashed Dividend, in 2012 here

Fiona wrote the following post about the festschrift, held in his honour at ANU, in 2012: click here

A profile here, published some time ago, captures some of the achievements of this extraordinary man.

 

 

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Greening the Healthcare Sector Think Tank 14th Oct 2014

by CAHA
September 15th, 2014

Hosted by Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association (AHHA) and Climate and Health Alliance (CAHA) in partnership with Global Green and Healthy Hospitals

Event Title: ‘The Health Sector as a Leader in Low Carbon Transformation’

When:  Tuesday 14th October 2014

Where: Mater Hospital, South Brisbane

Featuring case studies and experts on the following themes:

  • Building healthy and sustainable healthcare infrastructure
  • Waste not – the transformation of disposal in healthcare
  • Engaging others – making sustainability everyone’s business
  • Building a  national and global community for healthy, sustainable healthcare

Opportunities to improve environmental sustainability in the healthcare sector are rapidly expanding. There are increasingly substantive economic drivers supporting a growing cohort of health and sustainability professionals in implementing strategies in their organisations for cutting carbon, reducing waste, minimising chemicals, and greening the supply chain.

The Greening the Healthcare Sector Think Tank provides an opportunity for those working in the sector to hear first hand case studies of change, talk to experts, hear about opportunities for collaboration, and contribute to a discussion about how we can work together to accelerate progress within the health sector towards sustainable healthcare and hospital practices.

This Think Tank will allow participants to hear from industry leaders and professionals and engage in discussions about strategies to improve environmental sustainability and population health while reducing pressure on health sector budgets. Building green healthcare facilities, engaging staff for institution-wide change, reducing waste and saving money will be some of the topics covered in this dynamic and interactive event.

The Think Tank will be facilitated by leading sustainability educator and consultant Ian McBurney, and will feature snap shot presentations from professionals, followed by engaging and interactive discussions.

Beamed in live from Washington state will be Nick Thorp, Global Community Manager of the Global Green and Healthy Hospitals network. Hear about this rapidly expanding network and the innovative platform that is enabling health and sustainability professionals to connect with one another around the world.

If you are looking for tools and resources to support sustainability initiatives and want to know how to succeed through collaboration with others – look no further!

Download the program here. Register now! Click on this link to register.

 

Categories Advocacy, Carbon, Climate, Emissions, Energy, Energy policy, Health, Health professionals, healthcare, Healthy, Hospitals, Mitigate, Sustainability, Sustainable, Uncategorized, Waste, Well-being
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CAHA and Climate Council Joint Statement on Coal and Health

by CAHA
September 3rd, 2014

Joint Statement on the Health Effects of Coal in Australia

The Climate and Health Alliance and the Climate Council have released a Joint Statement on the Health Effects of Coal in Australia in response to the Inquiry report from Hazelwood coal mine fire in Victoria, saying:

“Australia’s heavy reliance on coal for electricity generation and massive coal industry expansion present significant risks to the health of communities, families and individuals.”

The Joint Statement calls for: health risks to be considered in all energy policy and investment decisions;  independent air, water and soil quality monitoring at and around every coal mine and power station in Australia; and funding for research into health, social and environmental impacts of coal.

The Joint Statement is accompanied by a Briefing Paper on Health Effects of Coal in Australia which outlines the scientific health and medical literature on the impacts on health from the production of coal.

The Joint Statement is signed by Professor Fiona Stanley, Professor Tim Flannery from the Climate Council and Dr Liz Hanna, President of Climate and Health Alliance on behalf of CAHA’s 27 member organisations.

The Joint Statement reads:

“We, the undersigned, accept the clear evidence that:

1. coal mining and burning coal for electricity emits toxic and carcinogenic substances into our air, water and land;
2. coal pollution is linked to the development of potentially fatal diseases and studies show severe health impacts on miners, workers and local communities;
3. Australia’s heavy reliance on coal for electricity generation and massive coal industry expansion present significant risks to the health of communities, families and individuals; and
4. emissions from coal mine fires, like the recent Hazelwood mine fire in Victoria, and the release of heavy metal and organic compounds, pose health risks for surrounding populations, such as respiratory and heart disease, cancers and other health conditions.

“We believe that Federal and State governments must urgently research and account for these risks to human health starting with consistent air, water and soil quality monitoring at and around every coal mine and power station in Australia.

“We are calling on governments and industry to acknowledge the significant human health risks associated with the whole lifecycle of coal production – mining, transportation, combustion and the disposal of waste – and to urgently fund research and account for these risks in policy, planning and investment decisions in Australia.

“While we recognise the role coal played in the industrial revolution – as an important energy source helping advance economies
and improve livelihoods – studies now show that every phase of coal’s lifecycle presents major human health risks and contributes to ecological degradation, loss of biodiversity and climate change.

“In addition to the release of greenhouse gases, which are the primary cause of climate change, coal mining and electricity generation emit known toxic and carcinogenic substances into our air, water and land. These emissions include mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, nitrogen oxides and inhalable airborne particulates.

“Authoritative studies in Europe and the United States show severe health impacts from coal emissions on miners, workers and local communities. These studies link coal pollution to the development of potentially fatal diseases, resulting in thousands of premature deaths and costing national economies tens to hundreds of billions of dollars every year. In the United States, the Physicians for Social Responsibility found that coal contributes to four of the five leading causes of mortality: heart disease, cancer, stroke and chronic respiratory diseases.

Health risks are not limited to mining and combustion. Emissions from coal mine fires are linked to lung cancer, bronchitis, heart disease and other health conditions. At home, despite Australia’s heavy reliance on coal for electricity generation – it provides 75% of our electricity supply – research and monitoring of the resulting health effects is limited. Most research has been conducted overseas, whereas in Australia – one of the world’s leading producers, consumers and exporters of coal – the burden of disease remains under investigated.

Furthermore, the disease burden will escalate as the massive coal industry expansion underway in Australia presents additional risk to human health in Australia and overseas. The significant health costs associated with coal are not currently reflected in the price of coal-fired electricity in Australia. In 2009, the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) estimated coal’s health impacts cost taxpayers $2.6 billion every year.

“A dire lack of monitoring and research in Australia is letting down coal mining communities.”

Recommendations:

1. Coal’s human health risks must be properly considered and accounted for in all energy and resources policy and investment decisions.
2. We also encourage the investment in education and training opportunities to support coal mining communities to transition away from fossil fuel industries towards new industries.
3. National standards for consistent air, water and soil quality monitoring at and around every coal mine and power station in Australia conducted by an independent body with no relationship to the coal industry.
4. Adequate funding allocated for research to evaluate the health, social and environmental impacts of coal in coal mining communities.

This joint statement is signed by Professor Tim Flannery, Professor Fiona Stanley, the Climate Council of Australia and the Climate and Health Alliance representing its 27 health organisations as members.

Professor Tim Flannery, Chief Councillor, The Climate Council of Australia

 

Professor Fiona Stanley, Distinguished Research Professor, School of Paediatrics and Child Health (SPACH), The University of Western Australia, a Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Melbourne and the Patron of the Telethon Kids Institute.

 

 

 

Dr. Liz Hanna, President of the Climate and Health Alliance

 

Categories Advocacy, Children, Climate, Coal, Emissions, Energy, Energy policy, Health, Health policy, Public health
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Webinar: Global Green and Healthy Hospitals

by CAHA
August 24th, 2014

CAHA’s recent Webinar provided participants with an introduction to the rapidly growing initiative that is the Global Green and Healthy Hospitals (GGHH) network.

Some of the topics GGHH Global Community Manager Nick Thorp discussed included:

  • Opportunities to improve sustainability in healthcare
  • Introduction to GGHH
  • What GGHH can offer for your hospital or health organisation
  • A global communications platform: GGHH Connect
  • How to join GGHH

Slides from the Webinar are available here.

For more information about GGHH in Australia or New Zealand, contact [email protected]

Categories Health, healthcare, Sustainability, sustainability
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Environmental sustainability in health care – why do it?

by CAHA
August 1st, 2014

By Chris Hill, Director of Environmental Sustainability, Mater

Published 5 May 2014 on Sustainability At Work

The priority of our team at Mater Health Services will always be the delivery of exceptional care to patients. That raises the question “Why focus on sustainability?”

I for one believe the two are not mutually exclusive, and in fact often ask why you would not focus on this area, which can return financial savings that can be reinvested into patient care. These savings also translate to broader benefits – from an environmental perspective through decreased consumption, and also the often hard-to-measure behavioural change.

The journey for me at Mater has evolved significantly over the past few years as our Sustainability at Materprogram gained momentum within our group of almost 7600 staff.

Our program commenced in 2008, initially driven by legislative requirements for the Clean Energy Act and associated Smart Energy Savings Program from a state-wide perspective, and the Federal National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007.

What was predominantly implemented to ensure adherence to these policies has grown into a key area of focus for Mater and seamlessly integrated into “normal business practice”.

To support the implementation of various campaigns and tactics associated with the program, a multidisciplinary committee, comprising executive directors and senior directors from across Mater, was established. This process really began from scratch, with no existing platform to refer to regarding how to successfully implement our ideas across our health care environment for the best possible outcome.

Recognition of the environment in our strategic plan was crucial for the implementation of our program in the key areas of focus – energy, water, waste, facilities design, procurement, transport and stakeholder engagement – from which 126 initiatives were identified.

The implementation of initiatives began with those that provided tangible results, so that staff could “see” the changes and therefore more easily align to the program. Examples included dual printing (with more than 6 million pages saved to date), the installation of 24 water tanks across our South Brisbane campus, increase to bike parking (90 spaces, each with a locker) and a commitment to recycling across numerous areas.

A comprehensive communication and engagement plan was developed in-house with Mater Marketing to develop an easily identifiable design to be consistently used for all communication related to the program. The plan also articulates aims and objectives, key messages, stakeholders and communication tools.

A behavioural study undertaken with Griffith University and The University of Queensland, supported by results from an all staff engagement survey, indicated waste was a priority of staff in terms of tangible environmental sustainability.

This was translated into practice, with changes such as supporting co-mingled recycling in non-clinical office areas and changes to clinical waste disposal processes. There are now 11 recycling streams in place across areas of the campus and during the last two years, this has increased recycling by more than 115 tonnes per year and has reduced clinical waste by more than 80 tonnes. This program is planned for expansion across the entire organisation.

Other programs targeting behavioural change involved direct engagement with staff. A “turn it off” campaign was delivered in conjunction with the universities to encourage staff to turn off lights and appliances when not in use. Mater-branded “keep cups” were also made available within cafes. This cost-neutral campaign has resulted in sales of almost 3000 cups since 2011.

We have also linked to external campaigns, with great success. During MobileMuster in March 2013, more than 40 kilograms of mobile phones and accessories were donated by staff, supporting the positioning of permanent collection points. National Ride to Work Day also attracted more than 50 participants who were treated to a free end-of-ride breakfast.

During a Friday File Fling in November 2013 to support National Recycling Week, more than five tonnes of material was collected by Mater’s waste team for recycling (or shredding, for confidential material).

Staff education is also now incorporated into a variety of programs coordinated by Mater Education Centre. Mater’s behavioural standards handbook and new staff orientation sessions reinforce Mater’s commitment to environmental sustainability by setting out expectations for responsible stewardship from the commencement of employment.

While staff support of the program is essential to its success, the ability to demonstrate organisational savings – both financial and environmental – is not only required for the program’s future, but also aids in it becoming a component of “business as usual”, rather than an additional program drawing from other priorities.

Energy initiatives such as installing energy efficient lighting into Mater car parks has reduced energy use by more than 30 per cent, with a less-than-two-year payback. As part of our commitment to the Smart Energy Savings Plan, a $1.9 million chiller replacement program was delivered. It has decreased energy use, and air conditioning scheduling continues to be monitored to ensure its use during core periods.

The implementation of a campus-wide temperature policy to regulate summer and winter temperature levels is also expected to contribute to a reduction in energy use. Electricity contract negotiations in partnership with an external energy broker have delivered substantial financial savings for the 2013-14 financial year and current renegotiation to a “flexible” wholesale price is expected to deliver further savings from January 2015. We are also investigating the appointment of an external contractor to develop an energy management plan for Mater that will recommend and cost payback periods for a number of initiatives, to allow for inclusion in our capital budget process.

Mater has delivered many other initiatives which have contributed to Sustainability at Mater. These include fleet and fuel reduction, reduction in the use of plastic water bottles for patients, miscellaneous lighting upgrades, carbon footprint measurement, volatile organic compound-free paint and green waste shredding.

All initiatives, big or small, support Mater’s goals within the area of environmental sustainability.

To summarise, in my opinion, the success for environmental sustainability across an organisation must include the following components:

  • You must have top management support for this to be successful.
  • Multiple contributions from all areas do make a difference.
  • Embed these changes into “business as usual” and there are more dollars available for patient care.
  • Environmental sustainability integration is transferrable across all industries.

Chris Hill is Mater’s director of environmental sustainability.  He can be contacted via [email protected].

This was first published in Catholic Health Australia’s Autumn 2014 issue of Health Matters.

Categories Uncategorized
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Tragic loss and untimely death of CAHA board member, Assoc Professor Erica Bell

by CAHA
July 29th, 2014

The CAHA Committee of Management and Membership is shocked and saddened by the untimely death of Committee of Management member and Expert Advisory Committee member Associate Professor Erica Bell, who died on Saturday following a massive stroke early last week.

Erica has been a tireless supporter of the Climate and Health Alliance (CAHA), attending its inaugural meeting in 2010, serving on its Committee of Management and Expert Advisory group since its establishment, amid an incredibly demanding role at University of Tasmania, previously as Deputy Director, University Department of Rural Health, and more recently in the Translational Health Services Group in the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre.

Erica championed and led the development of the CAHA expert advisory group, which has been pivotal to the organisation’s credibility and reputation. Erica was influential in building support for CAHA particularly in the rural and remote education sector, and her innovative approaches to community engagement in climate and health research and emphasis on rural and remote health, as well as her insights into integrating policy and research, were extremely valuable and will influence research for decades to come.

Erica was much admired in the CAHA community and her support of CAHA and its work deeply appreciated.

 

Categories Climate, Health
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Webinar on Health and Climate Change in Mongolia – The Policy Response

by CAHA
July 17th, 2014

Webinar with Tsetsegsaikhan Batmunkh from the Ministry of Health in Mongolia who will discuss the steps her country is taking to adapt and mitigate the health impacts of climate change. 

Monday 21st July 2014 at 12pm-1.00pm

– Please note you will need a microphone and speakers to join using your computer, and need to download the Webex software in order to join.

Join the webinar (please try and join about 5-10 minutes prior) 

Event number: 641 660 046
Event password: climate

If you are unable to join using your computer, you can follow this link for information about using your phone to join the Webinar via audio

Webinar program details:

How is Mongolia responding to the health impacts of climate change?

Mongolia’s geographical position and climate situation, along with the traditional nomadic way of life make it very sensitive to climate change. The climate change impacts are obvious and affecting Mongolia in different ways. The annual mean temperature has increased by 2.14C during the last 70 years, while the precipitation has decreased.

Recent research shows negative impacts on health, particularly for most vulnerable population, such as children, herders and aging population.

About the presenter:

Tsetsegsaikhan Batmunkh graduated from People’s Friendship University in Russia as a medical doctor in 2001. She obtained a PhD degree in microbiology from People’s Friendship University in 2005, and has just completed Master in Public Health/Health Management at UNSW, Australia.

Her work experience includes:2004-2005 Embassy of Mongolia in Russian Federation; 2005 – Central Joint Laboratory of the State Inspection Agency; 2007-2013 Ministry of Health, Officer in charge of Environmental Health, local focal point for the WHO Environmental Health Programme. She is a Member of International Solid Waste Association and member of Global Green and Healthy Hospitals Network. Tsegi has published approximately 30 books and articles on environmental health in Mongolia.

Categories Children, Health, Health policy, Mitigate, Public policy, survival, Uncategorized
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Federal Budget will actively worsen the health of people and planet

by CAHA
May 24th, 2014

By Dr Liz Hanna, Australian National University

Posted by the Fifth Estate on 16 May 2014

The first federal budget from the Abbott government very clearly demonstrated its ideology to the Australian public, which it kept carefully under wraps prior to the election, along with repeated promises of “no surprises” and “no cuts”, while they lauded the merits of “trust”.

So Australia now has a government under false pretenses.

Sly manoeuvring includes cuts of $50 billion to hospitals, forcing cash-strapped states to push for a rise in GST, which many analysts agree is needed to sustain required levels of services, and was recommended in the Commission of Audit.

Another sleight of hand is the systemic demise of preventive health care towards funding high-tech research, much of which will benefit big pharma. Such a fiscally irresponsible move reflects again the distorted ideology of giving preferential treatment to profits over the health of the public.

Investments in prevention give benefits in the order of 3:1 to 40:1, that, is every dollar spent on preventing diseases saves between 3 to 40 dollars in health spending in treating that disease at a later date (on today’s prices). The benefits to the individual, their family and society of avoided illness far exceeds these figures. So it is not only heartless, but bad economic policy to curtail prevention research and programs.

Preventative health starts with the environment

On all continents, the greatest population health gains have been achieved via providing urban communities clean and healthy environments, and by people following a healthy lifestyle. This means clean air, clean food and clean water.

Environmental degradation hampers health, and lifestyle diseases continue to contribute heavily to Australia’s burden of disease. Yet the Abbott Government’s first budget wilfully sets to destroy recent advances.

Their bad policies will:

worsen air pollution and reduce physical inactivity by promoting roads over rail
exacerbate climate change, giving us hotter summers, and more disastrous fires, droughts and damaging storms, by scrapping renewable energy incentives and promoting fossil fuel industries
shovel more people into a state of poverty and hopelessness, which inevitably results in poorer health, made worse by restricting access to expensive health care

Australia must address climate change

Australia would be better served by a budget that addressed Australia’s high vulnerability to climate change. Rather than supporting Australia to prepare for more frequent and more intense heat waves, deeper droughts, more catastrophic fires and storms, and steering Australia to reverse its own contribution to these, this budget does the reverse.

Adaptation funding, already diminished, will be wound back and ceased. The budget proposes to abolish the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, established to boost the rollout of affordable renewable energy, to scrap of $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation, and remove the carbon price. Funding for public transport is scuppered to build more roads, whereas subsidies to polluters continue, and new incentives are planned for mining.

An ideological opposition to health?

This government is apparently ideologically opposed to the health of Australians. The boost to medical research is a con job, thrown in as a sweetener, hoping Australia will swallow the nasty pill of the demise of Medicare. Can we trust this – or future – governments not to incrementally erode the universality of Medicare? Past performance would suggest not. For decades, the Liberal Coalition has made repeated efforts to dismantle Medicare at every opportunity.

Australia’s health system took decades to build, and we have an excellent mix that attends the needs of the poor, funded proportionally by income tax, and provides for private health care.

We deliver better health outcomes than the more expensive American model, yet this government pushes us away from a health system regarded by many as “the envy of the world”, and towards that poor performing system. As the population expands, the health system, including health promotion and protection, needs investment, not slashing.

Amalgamation of major agencies such as the National Preventative Task Force and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare with groups whose focus is health efficiencies is a retrograde step.

Australia considers itself an advanced society. Advanced societies investigate their vulnerabilities, address their shortfalls, track their progress, confront the residual challenges and monitor performance by publishing trend data. The AIHW gives us this.

We took pride in our government’s transparency and commitment to good health, and were proud of our achievements. Hiding trends by blinkering our health and welfare statistics looks very shifty, Mr Hockey.

Anti-Australian bias

The ideology revealed here in this budget reveals an anti-Australian people, pro-business bias. The only future being protected in this budget is fossil fuel and big miners.

By savaging the most needy in society, this government clearly ignores the evidence that the supposed “trickle-down effect” does not work – it only widens the gap between the haves and have-nots. It will expand Australia’s underclass.

The government has demonstrated a total disregard of the wealth of evidence about nation building. Social science clearly shows that deprivation of opportunities to contribute to society sets people up for a lifetime of social exclusion. Similarly, public health evidence shows this sets people up for a life of poor health. Those individuals loose out, and society looses out, by shifting their potential productive contribution to one of ultimate dependence. Furthermore, their plight negatively impacts upon their family, and drags them down as well. The ripple effect is very powerful within those inner rings. A few pennies saved multiplies enormously in the costs, financial and human. So these budget moves are dangerously flawed in the human toll and economic argument.

A budget designed to build a strong future for Australia would invest in its people, in their health and education, and promote a healthy world in which current and future generations can productively contribute.

Instead, the budget destines us all to a world of worsening disasters, greater inequities and the social consequences that inevitably arise.

This budget not only broke our trust, but subjects Australia to a trajectory of increasing hardship and ill-health. The ramifications of their systematic destruction of civil society will be felt for generations to come.

Dr Liz Hanna is a fellow at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at ANU, and president of the Climate and Health Alliance.

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