Australia | Towards a National Strategy on Climate, Health and Well-being

HCHW’s strategic partner in Australia, the Climate and Health Alliance (CAHA), is spearheading a movement to achieve a national strategy on climate, health and well-being for Australia. This builds on work done in 2013 when CAHA first called for a National Plan for Climate, Health and Wellbeing in Australia. In June of 2016, CAHA released its Discussion Paper: Towards a National Strategy on Climate, Health and Well-being to health care stakeholders.

This paper provides a review of the health impacts of climate change in Australia. It then examines the current national climate change mitigation and adaptation policies, especially the extent to which they acknowledge and respond to the impacts of climate change on human health and the health sector. The paper goes on to highlight the obligations Australia now has under the global climate agreement, the Paris Agreement, to consider health in the context of its climate policies. Finally, the key elements of a National Strategy for Climate, Health and Well-being are outlined.

To download the paper, click here.

For more information on the climate and health policy status in Australia, click here.