Climate Change and Health: Initiating and Leading Transformational Change

This course has been accredited by tropEd Network for Higher Education Institutions in International Health.

Content:

• introduction to climate science and climate change
• associations between climate change and human health, presentation of observed and projected health impacts (beneficial and adverse effects) and discussion of selected example
• concepts of climate change health adaptation and climate change mitigation, incl. economics of adaptation and mitigation and health co-benefits of climate change mitigation in the health sector and in other sectors (e.g. urban planning, food production and nutrition, transport)
• current status of climate change mitigation and health adaptation on institutional, city, country and global level
• frameworks of climate change, the health aspects of the SDG framework and planetary health with focus on interlinkages and synergies
• transformational change concepts and examples in different sectors
• concept of becoming a change agent, including examples and the opportunity to practice
• first steps in designing and co-creating a transformational change agenda

Learning objectives:

At the end of the module, the participants will be able to:

• recognize the basic mechanisms of climate change and other key dimensions of planetary health, explain its main drivers and observed and projected consequences,
• illustrate observed and projected health impacts of climate change, present the concept of health adaptation measures and give examples,
• explain health co-benefits of climate change mitigation measures in other sectors and provide examples,
• associate the health aspect of climate change with international climate change frameworks and agreements and with the wider sustainable development and planetary health agenda,
• construct an argument for the need of transformational change in the context of climate change & planetary health, and use new methods for creating a transformational case/agenda, and
• identify the case for transformation to advocate for the climate change & health agenda and co-create a draft transformational agenda in a concrete local context/institution, jointly with key stakeholders.

Course Schedule:

• synchronous sessions
• asynchronous sessions: in between synchronous sessions, no more than 2-3 meetings per month (tutor-facilitated)