June 24, 2019 – Health Care Without Harm joined more than 70 other national health and medical groups to release a U.S. Call to Action on Climate, Health, and Equity to protect the health and safety of all people in the U.S., following a surge in the number and intensity of climate change-related health harms, from exposure to extreme weather and heat waves to worsening air pollution and increases in insect-borne diseases.
The call to action urges our nation’s leaders in government, businesses, health care, and the civil sector to heed the call of health professionals and organizations by immediately taking action to limit climate disruption and build climate resilience.
At a June 24 press conference announcing the release, Jeffrey Thompson, MD, Gundersen Health System CEO Emeritus, urged fellow health care leaders to improve the health and well being of our communities and join thousands of others in protecting the nation’s health and health care delivery from the impacts of climate change. At the same time, he called for policymakers to join with health leaders to advance meaningful solutions, saying:
“The health care sector calls for business leaders, educators and policymakers to work with us to advance solutions. Together we have tremendous potential to create a health system that truly heals and healthy, vibrant communities where every child can breathe clean air and has the opportunity to grow up healthy and strong.”
The call to action includes 10 policy recommendations that provide a roadmap for government and health care leaders as they develop comprehensive and coordinated strategies for tackling climate change to improve health.
Read: http://www.climatehealthaction.org/cta/climate-health-equity-policy/