ECTMIH 2023 focus: shaping the future of equitable and sustainable planetary health
Our planet and its climate are changing as a result of human actions.
We are experiencing more extreme weather events across the globe – and thousands of lives have been lost in 2022 alone as a result of catastrophic conditions, including heatwaves in the US, wildfires in Europe, cyclones in East Africa, lightening strikes in India, and floods in Pakistan.
We are also faced with declining biodiversity, including the decimation of wildlife, as well as the increasing degradation and pollution of our natural environments.
Urgent attention and action is now required to address the extensive damage that humans have created and to acknowledge that our health is intrinsically linked to the health of the planet.
Planetary health therefore reflects the interconnectedness of human health and climate change in a rapidly changing environment and is the over-arching theme and common thread running through the ECTMIH 2023 programme.
Our aim at ECTMIH 2023 is to accelerate the understanding, appreciation, and connections between tropical medicine, global health, and the urgent field of planetary health. We will build on global health traditions to emphasize the importance of health equity and universal health coverage to ensure that all populations – and especially those in low(er) resource settings – have optimal chances of health and wellbeing.
Crosscutting themes supporting this central planetary health focus will include prevention, diagnostic innovation, treatment and care; public and community health; Universal Health Coverage and health equity; health policy and the role of social sciences in global health research.
With this in mind, ECTMIH 2023 will:
- act as a catalyst in the transition and change we need to achieve equitable, just, and sustainable societies
- encourage the active participation of researchers from low and middle income countries, global thinkers, policy and decision makers
- stimulate debate on the role of cooperation agencies and of scientific institutes in all areas of global health
