McMaster delegate attends U21 Health Sciences Group Annual Meeting at Lund University
Teaching staff in medicine and health and staff from 19 member universities across the globe gathered at the U21 Health Sciences Group (HSG) Annual Meeting at Lund University from Aug. 28 to Sept. 1, 2023.
The McMaster University delegation included members of the Faculty of Health Sciences, including Paul O’Bryne, dean and vice-president, Sandra Carroll, vice-dean and executive director of Nursing, Emma Apatu, director of the Master of Public Health Program, and Laura Harrington, assistant vice-president.
A workshop on international academic partnerships and opportunities for virtual student exchange was led by Teresa Chan, associate dean of Continuing Professional Development at McMaster and newly appointed director and vice-president of Medical Affairs at Toronto Metropolitan University. In 2022, Chan was announced as a winner of the HSG’s Teaching Excellence Award, which celebrates exceptional educational scholarship.
This year’s theme, “Climate Change and Health”, inspired keynote speakers from Medical Faculty, the Centre for Sustainability Studies, and students from the International Students Federation of Medical Students Association (IFMSA) to reflect and discuss the United Nations’ 13th Sustainable Development Goal: climate action.
As countries have begun to prioritize health in their efforts to protect communities from the impact of climate change, due to lack of funding, the impact of COVID-19, and insufficient human resource capacity are all barriers to progress. Calling for urgent action to combat climate change and its health impacts, the U21 HSG Annual Meeting empowered participants to think about sustainable solutions from a planetary health perspective which are nature-based and multifunctional.
Planetary Health encompasses the multitude of ways that the environment can affect health with consequences including expanding ranges of vector-borne diseases, excessive mortality due to heat or environmental disasters, and mental health.
As an example of the international health community inspiring change and a vision for planetary health, students across the globe are holding institutions accountable through the Planetary Health Report Card Initiative. Students from the IFMSA spoke about the metric-based tool for evaluating and improving planetary health content in health professional schools. Furthermore, in a session on teaching and learning strategies, there was emphasis placed on re-framing the threat of climate change as an opportunity to re-think sustainable health systems, clinical practice, and lifestyles.
“Equipping students with the skills necessary to adapt to the complexities and impact of climate change on health is imperative,” said Paul O’Bryne, “It is inspiring to see the commitment across the U21 members to incorporate an ecological perspective to health sciences teaching, learning, and research that is brave, inclusive, and collaborative,”
Among the collaborative and information exchange activities, U21 HSG provides opportunities for students to participate, especially those engaged in the topic of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Aisha Barkhad, McMaster University Global Health doctoral candidate, participated in the Doctoral Student Forum and presented thought-provoking research on the ecological, biological, and social drivers of dengue virus transmission and epidemiology in Latin America and the Caribbean. Taking an eco-health approach, Barkhad discussed the multifaceted and dynamic linkages between climate change, socioeconomic and demographic factors of populations.
“I learned about their research passions, and the ways in which their respective universities are adapting to and attempting to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis on health within their own communities,” said Barkhad, reflecting on the opportunities to connect with PhD students from universities across the globe, from South Africa to Chile to Australia.
After a week of discussion about challenges that need local and global solutions, international partnerships and exchange of ideas are essential to address climate change and health.
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