Building competency to deal with environmental health challenges: experiences and a proposal

Giovanni S Leonardi; Ariana Zeka; Matthew Ashworth; Catherine Bouland; Helen Crabbe; Raquel Duarte-Davidson; Ruth A Etzel; Nia Giuashvili; Özden Gökdemir; Wojciech Hanke; Peter van den Hazel; Paul Jagals; Ejaz Ahmad Khan; Piedad Martin-Olmedo; Joseph Pett; Ekaterine Ruadze; Maria Grazia Santamaria; Jan C Semenza; Cecilia Sorensen; Sotiris Vardoulakis; Fuyuen Yip; Paolo Lauriola

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2024.1373530

Building competency to deal with environmental health challenges: experiences and a proposal

Front Public Health. 2024 Nov 18:12:1373530. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1373530. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Giovanni S Leonardi^{1

2}, Ariana Zeka^{1

3}, Matthew Ashworth^{4

5}, Catherine Bouland⁶, Helen Crabbe¹, Raquel Duarte-Davidson¹, Ruth A Etzel⁷, Nia Giuashvili⁸, Özden Gökdemir⁹, Wojciech Hanke¹⁰, Peter van den Hazel¹¹, Paul Jagals¹², Ejaz Ahmad Khan¹³, Piedad Martin-Olmedo^{14

15}, Joseph Pett¹⁶, Ekaterine Ruadze⁸, Maria Grazia Santamaria¹⁷, Jan C Semenza¹⁸, Cecilia Sorensen¹⁹, Sotiris Vardoulakis²⁰, Fuyuen Yip²¹, Paolo Lauriola²²

Affiliations

¹ UKHSA, London, United Kingdom.
² LSHTM, London, United Kingdom.
³ University College London, London, United Kingdom.
⁴ Institute of Environmental Science and Research Limited (ESR), Upper Hutt, New Zealand.
⁵ The Child Health Research Centre, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
⁶ Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)-Ecole de Santé Publique, Brussels, Belgium.
⁷ Milken Institute School of Public Health, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States.
⁸ National Center for Disease Control and Public Health, Tblisi, Georgia.
⁹ Faculty of Medicine, Izmir University of Economics, İzmir, Türkiye.
¹⁰ Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Lodz, Poland.
¹¹ International Network on Children's Health, Environment and Safety (INCHES), Ellecom, Netherlands.
¹² WHO Collaborating Centre for Children's Health and Environment, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
¹³ Health Services Academy, Islamabad, Pakistan.
¹⁴ Andalusian School of Public Health, Granada, Spain.
¹⁵ Ibs. GRANADA, Granada, Spain.
¹⁶ IHR Strengthening Project, UKHSA, Bangkok, Thailand.
¹⁷ ASL Foggia, Foggia, Italy.
¹⁸ Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
¹⁹ Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education at Columbia University, New York, NY, United States.
²⁰ HEAL Global Research Centre, Health Research Institute, University of Canberra, Bruce, ACT, Australia.
²¹ US-CDC, Atlanta, GA, United States.
²² International Society Doctors for the Environment (ISDE), Rete Italiana Medici Sentinella per l'Ambiente (RIMSA), Arezzo, Italy.

Abstract

The global landscape of professional training in environmental health, encompassing ecological public health or environmental public health, lacks consistent global implementation for training programs for public health practitioners, clinical professionals, and individuals across various disciplines, as well as standardized curricula for undergraduates. This training gap is related to the overall lack of capacity in addressing the population impacts of the triple challenge of pollution, biodiversity loss, and climate change, impeding the worldwide transition to and development of ecological sustainability. This paper reviews existing approaches and their potential to address implementation challenges within the necessarily tight timescale. Spreading of best practice appears feasible even without substantial additional resources, through the reorientation of current practices via comprehensive multi-disciplinary training programs. By adopting international best practices of training in environmental health, the focus in training and education can shift from future decision-makers to enhancing the competencies of current professionals and their institutions.

Keywords: ecological public health; ecological sustainability; ecology; education; environmental change; environmental health; professional training; public health.

Copyright © 2024 Leonardi, Zeka, Ashworth, Bouland, Crabbe, Duarte-Davidson, Etzel, Giuashvili, Gökdemir, Hanke, Jagals, Khan, Martin Olmedo, Pett, van den Hazel, Ruadze, Santamaria, Semenza, Sorensen, Vardoulakis, Yip and Lauriola.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Climate Change
Curriculum
Environmental Health* / education
Humans
Professional Competence
Public Health / education

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The publication of this study is part funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health Protection Research Unit in Environmental Change and Health (NIHR 200909), a partnership between UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), in collaboration with University College London and the Met Office. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR, UK Health Security Agency, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University College London, the Met Office or the Department of Health and Social Care. SV acknowledges the HEAL (Healthy Environments and Lives) National Research Network, which receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Special Initiative in Human Health and Environmental Change (Grant No. 2008937).