CLIMATE AND HEALTH JUSTICE

A COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE
HOSTED BY THE MMI NETWORK

Dear colleagues,

We herewith invite you to join an emerging civil society community of practice hosted by the Medicus Mundi International Network to explore, in a mixed team within and beyond our membership, the role of international health cooperation and global health advocacy in climate change and planetary health.

What brings us together

Deepening health and social crises, augmented by the ecological emergency, require our urgent attention. No community, whether in Europe or elsewhere, is immune from the health impacts of climate change, albeit existing inequities will increase due to the interrelated social and economic injustices.

People around the world face increasing extremes of heat, food and water insecurity, and changing patterns of infectious and chronic diseases. Unless urgent action is taken, the health impact of the climate emergency will bring disruption, threaten lives and livelihoods and compromise the health systems we depend on.

The (re-)emerging epidemic and the climate emergency represent converging crises. At the same time, climate emergency and health risks share common, syndemic, drivers. It is imperative that these emergencies are addressed in a comprehensive manner, while acknowledging public health needs, coloniality, political economic context and powers, inequities and historic injustices.

Political, social, and economic processes and structures must therefore be designed and governed nationally, as well as internationally, with a focus on safeguarding health and well-being for present and future generations while also preserving the habitability of the planet. Existing and new actors working in global health and its cooperation have a long experience working on health justice, solidarity, cooperation and activism towards the aim of Health for All.

Find out more about our emerging community of practice in the (simple) terms of reference approved by the members in September 2023:

• Who is invited to participate (you)
• What do we want to achieve together
• Values – and resulting approaches
• Modalities of work
• Governance basics

If you are interested in joining the community of practice, please send a simple email message (name and institution; must be civil society) to Thomas. And watch out for the public events announced below.

Contacts

Carlos Mediano, medicusmundi Spain
Convener of the CoP
federacion2@medicusmundi.es

Thomas Schwarz, MMI Executive Secretary
Facilitation, support, membership administration
schwarz@medicusmundi.org