Where We Stand
Section: Public Health
Policy: Climate and Health
Appendix O

Climate and Health 

The Lancet Commission on Climate Change and Health released its second report in 2015 finding that, “...tackling climate change could be the greatest global health opportunity of the 21st century” and “[t]he effects of climate change are being felt today, and future projections represent an unacceptably high and potentially catastrophic risk to human health;” Health professionals have an obligation to advocate for efforts to improve the health of our patients. Action on climate change is generally considered to be either mitigation (minimizing effects by decreasing changes) or adaptation (minimizing damage due to inevitable changes), and can be attempted as an individual, community, or legislatively.2   The report has since been updated regularly, most recently in 2020.3

Health care professionals, including physicians and physician assistants have an obligation to advocate for efforts to improve the health of patients.  Early in 2021, the OMA’s Policy Committee assembled a Climate Change Workgroup to develop policy on the issue of Climate Change for consideration at an upcoming Board of Trustees meeting. The workgroup would center its focus to consider the likely effects of climate change in Oregon, and nationally, and identify impactful strategies for further safeguarding the heath of Oregonians as it pertains to illness, death, and injuries, including but not limited to, mitigation and adaptation strategies that could be enacted at the personal, community and legislative level.

The workgroup considered existing policy from the American Medical Association and based its first recommendation on AMA’s Policy on Global Climate Change and Human Health, adapting it to physician assistants and the health care team.4 The AMA has been involved in Climate issues and has reaffirmed and updated this policy in recent years. In addition to the AMA’s policy, the workgroup also examined other policies, statements, and resources from national and state medical associations.

One of those resources, The U.S. Call to Action on Climate, Health and Equity acknowledges climate change as the greatest public health challenge of the 21st century, takes action to reduce climate change to dramatically improve health and assures that equity is central to climate action.  Medical Associations such as the AMA, the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and many other stakeholders including public health organizations called on government, business, and civil society leaders, elected officials, and candidates for office to recognize climate change as a health emergency and to work across government agencies and with communities and businesses to prioritize action on their Climate, Health and Equity Policy Action Agenda.5

With the recommendations, the OMA would have policy to guide its education, legislative activities, and operational decisions. These recommendations will further the OMA’s goals of a healthier community and world. 

References

  1. AMA Policy Global Climate Change and Human Health H-135.938
  2. Health and Climate Change. The Lancet. June 23, 2015.
  3. Watts N, Amann M, Arnell N, et al. The 2020 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: responding to converging crises. The Lancet. January 9, 2021.
  4. AMA Policy Global Climate Change and Human Health H-135.938
  5. Climate Health Action. U.S. Call to Action On Climate, Health, and Equity: A Policy Action Agenda. 2019.


Resources from health care organizations

Though the list below is not exhaustive, it includes some of the resources the workgroup reviewed in developing its recommendations.

American Medical Association Policy
The Lancet Report 2020
American College of Physicians Climate Change Toolkit
Climate Change and Health:  A Position Paper of the American College of Physicians
The U.S. Call to Action and the Climate, Health, and Equity Policy Action Agenda
Confronting Climate Change:  NW Permanente in the Environment of the Future
American Lung Association – Health Professionals for Clean Air and Climate Action
Practice Greenhealth
The Medical Society Consortium on Climate & Health: Take Action
The Medical Society Consortium on Climate & Health: Candidate Questions
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: AR6 Climate Change 2021

 

Policy Committee Workgroup on Climate and Health

Colin Cave, MD, Otolaryngology, Portland
Brian Chesebro, MD, Anesthesiology, Portland
Stewart Decker, MD, Family Practice, Klamath Falls, Chair
Erika Moseson, MD, MA, Critical Care Medicine, Portland
Marianne Parshley, MD, Internal Medicine, Portland