Promoting Planetary Health - in Iberoamericana region

Paola Rava Dellepiane, WONCA Working Party on the Environment member writes more on the issue of WONCA conferences as a very favorable setting to promote the issue of Planetary Health and increase the general awareness for it.

Following the reflection of our colleague Ralph Guggenheim (reported in WONCA News here) about what happened at the WONCA Europe conference; we had a similar opportunity in the Iberoamerica WONCA Region, at the 5th CIMF Conference, held in Lima, Perú, 17 to 20 August, 2017.

As a member of Working Party on the Environment, a proposal of a workshop related to Health and the Environment was accepted, which was the only activity directly related to this issue in the Scientific Program of more than 250 activities.

The workshop was excellent, the people who came were very enthusiastic in talking about environmental problems and their health impacts in their communities and countries. Some of them said that they had found what they needed or wanted from the congress with this one workshop.

At the end of the workshop, people had thought about the connections or “interdependencies” between the planetary and individual health, in order to introduce the concept of Planetary Health. The workshop provided a sentence to work with: Discover that which is good for the Planet, and it is also good for your patient; discover what is good for your patient, and it is good for the planet too.

Family physicians have not yet woken up about the importance of environment as a health determinant. There is increasing evidence on how, non-communicable and communicable diseases are related to the environment, in a wide concept of this term.

Family Physicians are in an excellent position. We are in contact with our patients every day, we can try to change the world, to contribute our part. Each small contribution adds to the larger effort. Our role is necessary, it is our responsibility, these are health issues and we are doctors.

Come on! Cheer up.

Statement on Planetary Health and Sustainable Development Goals 2017
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