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?
The full article is accessible to AMA
members and paid subscribers.
Login to MJA or subscribe now.
- 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.
Online responses are no longer available. Please refer to our instructions for authors page for more information.