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Global Change: a Public Health Researcher’s Ethical Responsibility

  • Ethics and Policy (M Tondel, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Environmental Health Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Loss of biodiversity and globalized environmental degradation result in planetary-scale changes which impact human societies.

Recent Findings

This paper highlights the urgency for public health researchers to integrate a global change perspective into their daily work. The public health community needs to answer several questions, e.g., how to weight the health of present and future generations; how to balance between the possible immediate adverse impacts of mitigating climate change vs long-term adverse impacts of global change; how to limit the environmental impacts of public health intervention; and how to allocate resources. Public health practitioners are faced with a moral responsibility to address these challenges.

Summary

Key elements to ensure long-lasting, innovative global change and health solutions include (i) empowering the population; (ii) tailoring the framing of global change and health impacts for different stakeholders; (iii) adopting less conservative approaches on reporting future scenarios; (iv) increasing accountability about the health impacts of mitigation and adaptation strategies; and (v) recognizing the limits of science.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Santé Publique France, Saint-Maurice, France

    Mathilde Pascal, Pascal Beaudeau & Sylvia Medina

  2. The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, England

    Nikita Charles Hamilton

  3. Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków, Poland

    Nikita Charles Hamilton

  4. École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique (EHESP), Rennes, France

    Nikita Charles Hamilton

Authors
  1. Mathilde Pascal
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  2. Pascal Beaudeau
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  3. Sylvia Medina
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  4. Nikita Charles Hamilton
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Correspondence to Mathilde Pascal.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Pascal, M., Beaudeau, P., Medina, S. et al. Global Change: a Public Health Researcher’s Ethical Responsibility. Curr Envir Health Rpt 6, 160–166 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40572-019-00238-4

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