European medical schools launch network to train future doctors on climate change risks

The network hopes to reach the medical students in the next three years and train them to be 10,000 to be onahec.

The new European doctors will get more training on the effect of climate change on health since 25 medical schools across 12 countries have set a network with plan of training 10,000 students in the next one, two and half years.

The network, based in the University of Glasgow in the UK, urged that medical schools fail to equip future physicians sufficiently enough to adequately address the health issues that are associated with climate change, including those related to heat stress and air pollution.

Surveys of medical schools in 2020 revealed that only 15 per cent have included climate change and health risks in their curricula.

There is a link between climate change and respiratory diseases, heart and lung diseases, cancer, mental health, vector-borne diseases and other diseases with more than 47,000 deaths in Europe last year attributed to heat.

“From emerging infectious diseases to more severe and frequent heat waves, the health risks associated with climate change are getting worse” Iain McInnes, the co-chair of the new network and college head of Medical Veterinary and Life sciences University of Glasgow said.

“It also enables us as educators to prepare the next generation of doctors, health professionals and medical leaders to effectively address these issues to provide better care for their patients,” he said.

The new formation comprises universities in Belgium France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland and the UK – and McInnes said he wants more to come.

Their objective is to try to align medical school education with regards to climate and health and satisfy medical students who also perceived climate change as one of the critical threats to health which should be addressed in their lifetimes.

“They need to act now or never: unmasking the climate crisis as one of the most relevant and worrying problems in our generation,” Medical student from Glasgow, Esther Ngoy stated.

However, Luka Delak, European Medical Students’ Association official in charge of communication, said in an interview with Euronews Health that the initiative should also encompass postgraduate and professional training programs.

So, it can be useful for working physicians “who may not have been trained in this area,” as Delak pointed out about climate and health.

The group made its debut at the World Health Summit held in Berlin, have backing from the WHO, and participating pharma companies which are members of the Sustainable Markets Initiative Health Systems Task Force, a UK-based effort aimed at reducing the industry’s carbon footprint.

The new consortium will also be the European branch of an international network started by Columbia University in the United States in 2017. Every year the group says is able to get to approximately 175000 students from around the globe.

According to Dr Cecilia Sorensen, who leads the Columbia programme, there is much need for a Europe base programme and so a Europe based programme is required because climate change is felt in different areas of the world in different ways.

As Sorensen pointed out in his statement: ‘‘Regional network supporting employability of OH professionals to participate in climate and health interventions relevant to the regions where they operate, addressing climatic and cultural specificities and societal disparities.’’