A call for mandatory planetary health education in public health and health services research programs

Abstract

The effects of global climate and environmental change endanger health, health systems, and public health infrastructure. As future public health and health services professionals, researchers, and clinicians, we will be tasked with protecting and promoting the health of communities in the face of these realities. However, there is limited integration of the environment-health nexus into the curricula of public health and health services research programs. Planetary health, an integrative paradigm linking the complex dynamics between the health of people to the natural systems on which we depend, offers an inroad to equipping emerging health system leaders with the skills and knowledge to protect people and the planet. We call on our institutions to follow other health disciplines, such as medicine, and embed planetary health and environmentally sustainable healthcare practices into core educational offerings.