ABSTRACT
Hospitals have the potential to improve public and environmental health and to strengthen the economic vitality of their communities. As “anchor” institutions, they are rooted in place and often explicitly oriented toward supporting community health. Twenty-eight organizations from across the globe formed Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) largely in response to the United States (US) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identifying medical waste incineration as the leading source of dioxin emissions. The coalition is driving the healthcare sector away from a focus on treating individual patients with acute and chronic diseases to addressing the social, economic, and environmental conditions that are the major underlying contributors of good or bad health. The Global Green and Healthy Hospitals community was formed by HCWH in 2010 as a vehicle for networking and peer learning. The US healthcare sector has a prominent role to play in driving change that impacts the global sector.
