Integrating climate change and planetary health into medical education in Australia and New Zealand

Medical educators from medical schools across Australia and New Zealand formed a Working Group on Climate Change and Health in 2017.(1) The Group also included representatives of both national Medical Student Associations. The purpose was to develop learning resources about the human health impacts of climate change and encourage use in medical curricula. Five broad areas of learning were identified to inform graduate outcome statements and learning objectives aligning medical student education with the provision of environmentally sustainable health care:

1. The principles of human-induced climate change and how this relates to the environmental determinants of health
2. The impact of climate change on health
3. The impact of climate change on the health system
4. The environmental impact of the health sector and what comprises environmentally sustainable healthcare
5. Creating change, both intra- and intersectorally, through advocacy and leadership