What’s Code Green?
Code Green aims to provide a platform from which medical students and doctors can educate, engage and inspire colleagues and the wider community to act now to prevent the worst health consequences of climate change. The Code Green National Project began through a partnership between Australian Medical Student Association (AMSA) Think Tank and Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA), and liases broadly with community organisations internationally.
What are the health impacts of climate change?
Human health, an interaction between our genetics and our environment, is inseparable from the climate in which we exist. The health effects of climate change are thus many and varied, direct and indirect. A Global Humanitarian Forum report, chaired by Kofi Annan, estimated that 300,000 people die a year as a result of human induced (anthropogenic) climate change, a figure that will rise, at a very conservative estimate, to at least 500,000 people by 2030. Present health issues arising as a product of inequality and inequity stand to be exacerbating, with most devastating effects for those communities with pre-existent vulnerabilities. Primary health threats include an increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events such as heatwaves, bushfires, storms and floods. Secondary health threats are associated with the health impacts resulting from changing ecosystems, including changes in the distribution of many vector- and arthropod-borne illnesses, reduced air quality leading to respiratory illness, decreased agricultural production capacity which can result in malnutrition and famine. The tertiary health impacts are the flow-on effects of these impacts on society, including water and sanitation issues, mass displacement and migration, conflict and exacerbations in mental health burden.
What can we do?
Taking action now will improve global public health by reducing the risk of negative health impacts of climate change. We can prevent much of the worst health effects of climate change by taking action to avoid what we cannot manage (mitigation – reducing greenhouse gas emissions) and manage what we cannot avoid (adaptation – preparing for changes that are already set in motion).
To find out more, email Code Green for Notre Dame Fremantle codegreenndf@gmail.com
Alternatively, contact the national committee via email codegreen@globalhealth.amsa.org.au
Source: AMSA
Vision - MSAND's Global Health Group 