Australian medical and pharmacy schools will be included for the first time in the latest Planetary Health Report Card (PHRC), an influential global publication encompassing 151 health professional schools in 18 countries.
Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA) and Australian Medical Students Association (AMSA) have welcomed Australia’s inclusion of medical schools in the annual publication, stating that as climate change accelerates, education about the impacts on patients' health and on clinical care will be more important than ever.
The student-led report card assesses and reports on medical schools’ curriculum content, research, support for student initiatives, community engagement, and campus sustainability. It also opens collaborative opportunities for improvement.
In Australia, six medical schools completed the inaugural scorecard. Ranked in order, they are: University of Queensland; Monash University; University of Melbourne; University of Wollongong; University of Tasmania; Curtin University.
Australia's first contribution to this international publication was led by Dr Grant Silbert, an intern and a member of Doctors for Environment Australia (DEA), as well as Emily Coady, a final year medical student, and the Global Health Chair of the Australian Medical Students' Association.
Dr Grant Silbert says:
“ We’re in the midst of an escalating climate crisis, and as future doctors we’re going to be front and centre of these changes.
“We’re taking the initiative to hold our schools accountable for educating us about the many ways that damage to the environment can affect community health, including heat deaths and illnesses, expanding ranges of vector-borne diseases, mental illness, and air pollution.”
Emily Coady says:
“The report card will also help medical schools to respond to the planetary health crisis and practice environmentally sustainable health care.
“For the 2023-24 report cards we are planning to recruit more widely and are aiming for ten medical schools, including from every Australian state and territory, plus five nursing and allied health schools. We are already being contacted by institutions throughout the region who have heard about this year's report cards and are keen to get involved for the next cycle.”
Dr Sonia Chanchlani, Chair of the DEA Medical Education Committee says:
“Australia’s first contribution to the PHRC initiative could not have been more timely. This year, the new Australian Medical Council curriculum standards took effect, ensuring that all medical schools and teaching hospitals include education about climate health risks and sustainable healthcare into curricula.
DEA contributed to the development of these new standards, aiming to ensure that planetary health content is integrated into every stage of medical education.”
Though initially developed by medical students to evaluate medical schools, the report card has now been adapted globally for dentistry, nursing, occupational therapy, pharmacy, and physiotherapy training programs.
In Australia, pharmacy schools at Monash University (and the University of Auckland) published their scorecards, with the Monash University Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences outperforming every other participating pharmacy institution globally.
World Earth Day on April 22, marks the publication of the fifth edition of the Planetary Health Report Card report.
Resources
The Planetary Health Report Card 2023-24
Media contact
DEA’s Media and Communications Lead, Carmela Ferraro
[email protected] / 0410703074
Aayushi Khillan, AMSA Public Relations Officer 2024
[email protected] / 0424714514