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POLICY AND PRACTICE REVIEWS article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Planetary Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1373490
This article is part of the Research Topic The Relationship Between Health and Environment Under the Lens of Climate Change: Insights for Policy Makers View all 7 articles

Paper 1: Call for a new environmental public health practice to manage current and future global health challenges through education, training and capacity building

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), London, United Kingdom
  • 2 London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, London, London, United Kingdom
  • 3 University College London, London, England, United Kingdom
  • 4 Institute of Environmental Science and Research, Upper Hutt, New Zealand
  • 5 École de Santé Publique, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
  • 6 Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., District of Columbia, United States
  • 7 NCDC-PH Georgia, Tblisi, Georgia
  • 8 İzmir University, İzmir, İzmir, Türkiye
  • 9 Medical University of Lodz, Łódź, Łódź, Poland
  • 10 The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
  • 11 WHO Collaboration Centre on Children’s Health and Environment. AU, Brisbane, Australia
  • 12 Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad, Islamabad, Pakistan
  • 13 Santè Publique France, Paris, France
  • 14 Andalusian School of Public Health, Granada, Spain
  • 15 WHO Dpt Public Health Environment, Geneva, Switzerland
  • 16 International Network on Children’s Health, Environment and Safety - INCHES, Ellecom, Netherlands
  • 17 WHO Health Systems Resilience, Integrated Health Services Department, Geneva, Switzerland
  • 18 Azienda Sanitaria Locale di Foggia, Foggia, Apulia, Italy
  • 19 Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Västerbotten, Sweden
  • 20 Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education at Columbia University Columbia University, New York, United States
  • 21 Health Environments And Lives (HEAL) National Research Network, Camberra, Australia
  • 22 National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Georgia, United States
  • 23 Rete Medici Sentinella per l'Ambiente (RIMSA), International Society Doctors for the Environment (ISDE, Arezzo, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Unsustainable globalisation of economic activities, lifestyles and social structures has contributed to environmental degradation, posing major threats to human health at the local and global levels. All these problems including climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss demand new public health approaches, capabilities and tools. This article acknowledges the need for well-prepared practitioners from many walks of life to contribute to environmental public health (EPH) functions thus strengthening society's capacity and capability to respond effectively and in a timely manner to such complex situations and multiple challenges. It envisions a new EPH practice addressing questions on: Why do this? What needs to be addressed? Who will do it? How can it be implemented? This article focuses on the main challenging EPH issues worldwide and how they could be addressed using a theoretical framework. A companion article shows how they have been tackled in practice, providing ideas and experiences.Deleted: 1.Complexity and dynamics of factors affecting population health and wellbeing: challenges Deleted: (487)

    Keywords: Giovanni Leonardi, UKHSA, UK, and LSHTM, UK Dutch (Belgium) Paolo Lauriola, International Society Doctors for the Environment (ISDE), Rete Italiana Medici Sentinella per l'Ambiente (RIMSA), Italy

    Received: 19 Jan 2024; Accepted: 27 May 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Leonardi, Zeka, Ashworth, Bouland, Crabbe, Duarte-Davidson, Etzel, Giuashvili, Gokdemir, Hanke, Jagals, Khan, Medina, Martin Olmedo, Pegoraro, Pett, Van Der Hazel,, Ruadze, Saikat, Santamaria, Semenza, Sorensen, Vardoulakis, Yip and Lauriola. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Giovanni S. Leonardi, UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), London, United Kingdom
    Ariana Zeka, UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), London, United Kingdom
    Raquel Duarte-Davidson, UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), London, United Kingdom
    Ruth A. Etzel, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., 20052, District of Columbia, United States
    Nia Giuashvili, NCDC-PH Georgia, Tblisi, Georgia
    Piedad Martin Olmedo, Andalusian School of Public Health, Granada, 18011, Spain
    Peter Van Der Hazel,, International Network on Children’s Health, Environment and Safety - INCHES, Ellecom, Netherlands
    Maria G. Santamaria, Azienda Sanitaria Locale di Foggia, Foggia, 71121, Apulia, Italy

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.