Pharmacy Forecast Australia 2022: partner perspective — Climate and Health Alliance

Abstract

Environmental sustainability is a key issue associated with pharmaceutical use in Australia. The pharmaceutical sector contributes to climate change by producing substantial greenhouse gas emissions and large amounts of waste.¹ Pharmaceutical pollution is a well-established threat to ecosystems, with harmful effects on animal and plant life, and human health. Pharmaceuticals can enter the environment at all stages of their life cycle, through manufacturing, patient excretion, and incorrect disposal.²

Global Green and Healthy Hospitals (GGHH) is an international network of hospitals, healthcare facilities, health systems, and health organisations dedicated to reducing their environmental footprint and promoting public and environmental health.³ To achieve this goal, GGHH has a comprehensive Sustainability Agenda consisting of a 10-goal framework. The safe management and disposal of pharmaceuticals is one area of the framework.⁴ The Climate and Health Alliance promotes GGHH's Sustainability Agenda in Australia and New Zealand, and coordinates the GGHH Pacific Region network.

Through the GGHH network, we are exposed to individuals working in the health sector who are leading and driving sustainable healthcare practices, including in pharmacy. In Australia to date, this work has largely focused on auditing and reducing pharmaceutical waste, as well as its safe disposal. All hospitals need to embed regular pharmaceutical waste audits into ongoing practice, consider current procurement and disposal practices, and develop policies to support quality use and prevent overuse. Health professionals can play a key role in minimising the effects of pharmaceuticals on the environment by optimising prescription practices, educating patients (e.g. around best use of medicines and effective antibiotic use), and advising patients on the appropriate disposal of medicines.

Professional bodies have a crucial role in providing specific guidance and practical advice in relation to environmental sustainability and climate change. Pharmacy Forecast Australia 2022, prepared by the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia, captured the perspectives of experts in health system pharmacy to develop strategic recommendations for environmental sustainability and pharmacy.⁵ Recommendations relating to clinical practice include clinicians' pharmaceutical choices accounting for environmental impact, working towards paper-free pharmacy departments, monitoring wastage data, establishing pharmaceutical waste programs, and considering the environment within pharmacy procurement. The Forecast also addresses the capacity of the current and future workforce, with recommendations to embed environmental sustainability into the pharmacy curriculum, and to support environmental sustainability champions.

Such recommendations are an important resource for those working tirelessly to drive change, like those within the GGHH network. They reinforce the work towards the sustainability agenda and provide support for pharmacy professionals across multiple areas.

Within the healthcare sector, there is a need for greater recognition of pharmaceuticals' negative effects on the environment, and thus on human health. As demand for pharmaceuticals grows, so will the level of pharmaceutical contamination in the environment, unless urgent action is taken. Disease prevention, lifestyle changes, and non-medical treatments can all reduce excessive reliance on pharmaceuticals and so limit their adverse effects on the environment.

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

The authors comply with the Journal's authorship policy.

Ethics approval was not required for this editorial.