Doctors around world call for urgent action to stop climate change

In a letter addressed to the world's governments, doctors from 39 health organizations in Canada, India, Europe, the United Kingdom, and Pacific countries demanded the elimination of fossil fuels and acceleration of renewable energy development. They warned that climate change damages are increasingly affecting patients.

They expressed in the open letter, “We, the world’s doctors and health professionals, call on world leaders to take urgent action to safeguard the health of global populations from the climate crisis.” Doctors hold a conference on climate change and health in Sydney when the call comes.

Doctors urge immediate climate action

An open letter, signed by representatives from 39 leading health organizations worldwide, including Australia’s top body for GPs and rural medicine, will be delivered on Saturday. The letter calls for urgent action against climate change to protect the health of communities. The signatories, who represent over three million health professionals globally, are witnessing the widespread impacts of climate change on human health in their patients.

The letter states, “We, the family doctors, doctors, and health professionals of the world, call on world leaders to take urgent action to safeguard the health of global populations from the climate crisis.” They further note that as frontline health workers, they are increasingly responding to health emergencies caused by the climate crisis.

Climate change: major health risk, causes premature deaths

María Neira, director of Environment, Climate Change and Health at the World Health Organization, highlighted that air pollution causes more than seven million premature deaths annually. She identified climate change as potentially the biggest health challenge of the 21st century.

Nicole Higgins, president of Australia’s highest doctors’ body, warned that Australia is preparing for one of the worst bushfire seasons since Black Saturday. She emphasized that preventive action is crucial and GPs have an important role to play in discussing and motivating patients to prepare emergency plans based on local climate threats and their personal circumstances and health needs.

The call for action coincides with a conference in Sydney where health bodies from around the world discuss their country’s experiences of climate change and its effects on the health and wellbeing of patients.

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