2025 Volume 12 Issue 1 Pages 110
Objectives: Amidst the escalating global climate crisis, the interplay between climate change and healthcare systems has become increasingly critical. The last decade’s proliferation of extreme weather events has precipitated a marked increase in heat-related morbidities, altered infectious disease transmission patterns, and exacerbated health outcomes from severe weather conditions. These changes have placed unprecedented stress on health systems, heightening the demand for health services while concurrently challenging their operational capacities. This course aims to elucidate the nexus between climate change and healthcare delivery, advocating for healthcare sector initiatives that promote decarbonization and bolster systemic resilience.
Methods: The course introduces a graduate-level curriculum focused on climate change and health, detailing the dynamics of climate change, its interaction with human health, and the contributory role of healthcare systems in environmental degradation. Incorporating a design thinking approach, the program seeks to foster actionable strategies for reducing healthcare’s carbon footprint through decarbonization and systemic reorganization. Participants include graduate students from Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, and the Kingdom of Eswatini, all of whom are being trained to undertake decarbonization initiatives.
Findings: The preliminary findings suggest that students have attained a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between climate change and health, as well as the requisite responses from healthcare systems. They have also developed innovative solutions aimed at mitigating the carbon emissions associated with healthcare operations, aligning with the objectives of achieving net-zero carbon emissions.
Implications: The curriculum provided the self-learning platform to of climate change and health at the graduate level. The repeated refreshment, debates, and design thinking has equipped students with skills of decarbonization on clinical practices of the nursing care. Consequently, these graduate students are better prepared to employ their skills collaboratively with other professionals in achieving Net-zero emissions in the healthcare system.
