World Health Day 2022 - Our Planet, Our Health

Climate change has been characterised as the “single biggest health threat” facing humanity by the World Health Organisation (WHO). In light of this stark challenge, the WHO has chosen to focus on the link between planetary health and human health this World Health Day. The pandemic, continued environmental disasters and rising pollution have made the world increasingly concerned about the health of the planet and how this could impact global health systems.?

The intersection between the environment and health?

The critical link between our health and the health of the planet is well recognised – the WHO estimates that more than 13 million deaths around the world each year are due to environmental causes, including climate change and air pollution. Earlier this year, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group II report predicted an excess of 250,000 deaths per year attributable to climate change by 2050. It concluded with high confidence that climate-related illnesses, premature deaths, malnutrition and threats to mental health and wellbeing are increasing, while the WHO reported recently that almost the entire global population (99%) breathes air that exceeds WHO air quality limits and threatens their health.??

Healthcare professionals are also expressing concerns. A coalition of global healthcare organisations backed by more than 40 million healthcare professionals have coordinated a written plea to governments to deliver health-based and climate-focused economic recoveries from the coronavirus pandemic.?

The pandemic exposed system weaknesses in the ability of societies to predict and withstand global risks at a community, national and international levels, and highlighted the challenge of coordinating a response to global environmental health risks.??

What can industry do??

The pharmaceutical industry managed a nimble and unprecedented response to the pandemic in its development of vaccines and antivirals. There is a major opportunity for the industry to show similar global leadership and add value by researching and developing new health products that manage and mitigate environmental health risks. The pressure is on, and expectations are high now that Governments and businesses have demonstrated that they can collaborate and act with urgency in times of crisis.??

For the pharmaceutical and wider healthcare industry, the impact of climate change is twofold: responding to increasing disease burdens and public health crises, while decarbonising their own processes and products to prevent exacerbating the impact. Previous analysis suggested the pharmaceutical industry’s emissions are 55% higher than the automotive industry. In England alone, the NHS footprint made up 5.4% of the country’s carbon emissions for 2019. Key challenges lie in high energy consumption, global supply chains, environmental pollution in connection with the production of pharmaceutical products, and large quantities of clinical and water waste.?

Sustainable production and supply processes also enhance value. Within the pharmaceutical industry 80% of the largest innovative companies in Europe have set net-zero or carbon-neutrality targets across their own operations and value chains, in addition to business critical efficiency improvements in areas such as recycling wastewater from manufacturing and reducing plastic packaging. Prioritisation of emission reduction was brought to the fore in the UK, where the NHS became the first healthcare system in the world to set a net zero target for its direct emissions by 2040 – and a 2045 target for its 80,000 plus suppliers.??

Building climate resilient health systems will require a multi-sectoral and multisystem collaborative effort, with decarbonisation of supply chains the key priority to have a real emissions and environmental impact. Long term resilience cannot be left to falter even with near term global and economic pressures. To address the wider interactions between environmental change, socioeconomic development, and human health and wellbeing, strategic and increased investment is required to strengthen general healthcare systems, along with targeted investments to enhance climate resilience.??

Healthier Tomorrow??

“Our planet, our health” is a stark reminder of the interconnectedness between the planet and our health and aims to spur action from individuals, policy-makers and businesses. A challenge of this scale can only be addressed when businesses of all sizes commit to do their bit. At Lexington we’re building on our own Social Value strategy, aiming to create shared value for our clients, employees and the communities in which we operate. There are three pillars to our approach – one of which consists of protecting the environment. Lexington is proud to be part of the SME climate commitment, which involves halving our GHG emissions by 2030, achieving net zero emissions by 2050 and disclosing our progress on a yearly basis.???

If you’re a business looking for support, Lexington can help you develop robust sustainability strategies and deliver compelling communications to build a brighter tomorrow.