How should the climate-health crisis change the role of doctors? What can medical practitioners do now to protect those most vulnerable to the effects of climate change? Can clinicians be advocates for action on climate change with their patients, and how is this best managed?
These are some of the questions which work currently underway at the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) may help us to answer.
On 14th October, senior doctors and policy makers attended a "policy dialogue" event at the RCP to discuss the implications of climate change for doctors' professional leadership, practice, advocacy and education. The event was the second of four policy dialogues arranged as part of a larger project exploring the implications of using a social determinants approach for the role of the doctor. The aim of the project is to encourage a broader ecological, health promoting and social justice approach to public health. The focus is on the links between the social determinants of health and issues such as avoidable chronic disease, health inequalities and climate change.
A third dialogue in January 2010 will focus on education and training of doctors in the social determinants of health. The project will culminate with a major summit in summer 2010.
For further information please contact ben.cottam@rcplondon.ac.uk
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