Planetary Health
We are living in an era where our natural systems are “being degraded to an extent unprecedented in human history” putting both our health, and the health of our planet, in peril (United Nations). It is against this sobering backdrop that we decided to present our 7th PublicHealth@Cambridge Network Showcase on the topic of planetary health. A timely topic for all, given the times in which we live, but also a timely topic for the research community at Cambridge – coming hot on the heels of the launch of Cambridge Zero, the University’s new climate change initiative.
On the 15 November 2019 the PublicHealth@Cambridge Network, along with our co-hosts at the University’s Conservation Research Institute, brought together 16 researchers, from a wide range of academic disciplines, to present their latest work in the area of planetary health. Sir David King opened the conference, introduced by Professor Carol Brayne, Director of Cambridge Institute of Public Health and Professor Patrick Maxwell, Regius Professor of Physic at the University of Cambridge.
The result was a day of truly multidisciplinary discussion around the subject, which highlighted both barriers and opportunities, from engaging corporates in climate change to the ‘planetary scale’ law and policy challenges that will need to be addressed to impact the situation. We also previewed the latest Cambridge research in this area, spanning a huge range of topics and touching on planetary health issues across diverse geographic regions – from waste in UK manufacturing to health and wellbeing in slum rehabilitation in India.
See the research:
For those of you who weren’t able to attend the conference, or who would simply like to look at the research again, some of our presenters have kindly agreed to share their presentations:
- Dr Lydia Drumright, Department of Medicine, Harnessing routinely collected data for human and planetary health in Uganda.
- Dr Minna Sunikka-Blank and Dr Ronita Bardhan, Department of Architecture. Gender, energy and ‘wellbeing’ in slum rehabilitation housing in Mumbai, India.
- Rory Braggins and Dr James Smith, Department of Public Health and Primary Care. The true cost of switching to low global-warming potential inhalers. An analysis of NHS prescription data in England.
Download the full conference programme, including speakers abstracts.
Sign-up to the PublicHealth@Cambridge Network
Many of our speakers are signed up to the PublicHealth@Cambridge Network Directory, a great free resource where Cambridge researchers working on topics relating to public health (across disciplines) can find out about research and researchers working in their area. To find out more, and sign-up, visit the above link.
For any other queries regarding the PublicHealth@Cambridge Network, contact our Network Coordinator Helen Watts.
