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New vision, new paradigm: health and wealth for all by 2100 — or for no one

Peter W Tait
Med J Aust 2008; 188 (7): . || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2008.tb01679.x
Published online: 7 April 2008

Global environmental change is threatening the health and survival of humankind — are we doing enough to ensure the environmental and social bases for health?

Global warming and resultant climate change pose serious risks to human health.1-3 However, global warming is only one of a nested series of threats to the health — and even survival — of humankind. With this in mind, is our current approach to both clinical and public health sufficient?


  • Public Health Association of Australia, Canberra, ACT.


Correspondence: aspetert@bigpond.com

  • 1. Woodruff R, Hales S, Butler C, McMichael A. Climate change health impacts in Australia: effects of dramatic CO2 emission reductions. Report for the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Australian Medical Association. Canberra: National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, 2005.
  • 2. Green DL. Climate change and health: impacts on remote Indigenous communities in northern Australia. CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research Paper 012. Melbourne: CSIRO, 2006.
  • 3. McMichael AJ, Woodruff RE, Hales S. Climate change and human health: present and future risks. Lancet 2006; 367: 859-869. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(06)68079-3.
  • 4. McMichael AJ. Planetary overload: global environmental change and the health of the human species. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
  • 5. Leggett J. Half gone: oil, gas, hot air and the global energy crisis. London: Portobello Books, 2005.
  • 6. Weiss RA, McMichael AJ. Social and environmental risk factors in the emergence of infectious diseases. Nat Med 2004; 10 (12 Suppl): S70-S76.
  • 7. Sachs JD. The end of poverty: how we can make it happen in our lifetime. London: Penguin Books, 2005.
  • 8. Wilkinson RG. The impact of inequality: how to make sick societies healthier. New York: The New Press, 2005.
  • 9. Patz J. Overview presentation. Climate change and health: research and policy issues in relation to health impacts and adaptations. A short course for researchers & policy-makers; 2007 Dec 4–6; National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT.
  • 10. Frumkin H. Designing and building healthy communities. Presentation at Public Health Association of Australia 37th Annual Conference; 2006 Sep 25–27; Sydney, NSW.

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