The Climate and Health Alliance (CAHA), Health Care Without Harm’s strategic partner in Australia, took home several awards from the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) this past October in Sydney. Four out of seven awards went to people involved with CAHA.
- Immediate past-president, Dr Liz Hanna, and Acting President, Dr Peter Sainsbury, received President's awards.
- CAHA Expert Advisory Committee member, Dr Peter Tait, received the Sidney Sax Medal.
- CAHA Executive Director, Fiona Armstrong, received the Tony McMichael Ecology and Environment Award.
“The recipients of this year’s awards have excelled in diverse and important ways, such as through mentoring students, leading innovative solutions to public health issues, or highlighting environmental health as a critical issue affecting human health”, said David Templeman, President of the PHAA, when he presented the awards.
Fiona Armstrong receive her award for having made a significant, discernible contribution in the combined domains of public health and ecology or environmental health. The award is named in honor of the late Professor Tony McMichael who was a world leader in research on and advocacy for incorporating ecological and environmental factors into the field of public health.
When she accepted the award, Fiona said she was inspired to work in the area of climate change and health after reading and writing about Tony McMichael’s work when she was a health journalist in 2008/9. “It struck me then, how serious the risks were to people’s health from climate change, and yet there was very little discussion about it within the health sector, and very little recognition of the health impacts among those designing climate policies.” Armstrong said she was privileged to go on to have Tony as a supportive colleague and mentor in the early years of the Climate and Health Alliance, and is very honored and humbled by the award.
See the PHAA media release here, and Fiona's acceptance speech here.