ABSTRACT
The Routledge Handbook on Climate Change and Health System Sustainability takes the reader on a journey to understand the interconnectedness of human health, climate change, and healthcare systems.
The book begins by exploring how climate change is affecting human health through the increasing frequency of natural disasters, such as bush fires, droughts and heatwaves, and the emergence of new infectious diseases, such as the SARS-CoV2 virus, all of which drive up demand for health services that are already heavily burdened by increasing rates of chronic diseases and ageing populations. Chapters then turn to the contribution of the healthcare system itself to climate change— explaining how current clinical practices, including wasteful care of low value, create an unsustainable carbon footprint and threaten the very viability of healthcare systems. Throughout the volume, descriptions of practical solutions and implemented case studies are used to illustrate the feasibility of taking action in the real world of the healthcare delivery ecosystem.
Bringing together a mix of forward-thinking environmental and health researchers, policymakers, leaders, managers, clinicians, patients, and health industry leaders to clarify the current state and future of sustainable healthcare systems, this book will be of interest to researchers and policymakers of climate and health systems.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|23 pages
To begin
chapter 3|4 pages
Creating climate-resilient, sustainable health systems
part II|156 pages
The effects of climate change on human health and healthcare system sustainability
part Section 1|42 pages
Fundamental issues
part Section 2|62 pages
Specific exemplars
section Section 3|50 pages
Social justice and climate change
chapter 14|12 pages
Climate resilient development
chapter 16|10 pages
Climate change in Africa case studies
part III|226 pages
The impacts of healthcare delivery on environmental sustainability
part Section 1|30 pages
Towards sustainability
part Section 2|58 pages
System redesign
chapter 20|18 pages
‘We argue that … one simply cannot claim to be a “health” care professional without advocating forcefully for the planet’ 1
chapter 22|13 pages
Learning healthcare systems
part Section 3|48 pages
Structural perspectives on healthcare and environmental sustainability
chapter 24|12 pages
One Health
chapter 26|11 pages
It's not what you do, it's the way that you do it
part Section 4|48 pages
Lowering the carbon footprint of healthcare
chapter 28|10 pages
Reconfiguring health organisations for environmental sustainability
chapter 29|11 pages
Think pathways, not buildings
chapter 30|15 pages
Greenifying the healthcare routine
part Section 5|40 pages
Economic perspectives on improving healthcare
part IV|29 pages
What does it all mean?