Europe: As the climate crisis intensifies, medical schools across Europe are set to expand their curricula to include climate-related health challenges, such as mosquito-borne diseases and heatstroke.
The initiative, led by the University of Glasgow, aims to equip future doctors with the skills to address emerging health risks and integrate sustainable practices into healthcare.
Twenty-five medical schools from countries including the UK, France, and Belgium have joined the European Network on Climate & Health Education (ENCHE). This network will introduce climate-related topics to over 10,000 students, with an emphasis on understanding the evolving health landscape caused by environmental changes.
Dr. Camille Huser, co-chair of ENCHE, highlighted the need for a future-oriented approach in medical education by stating that, “The doctors of the future will encounter diseases they aren’t seeing today. They need to recognise these conditions and respond effectively.”
Europe experienced its hottest summer on record this year, underscoring the urgency of climate-related healthcare training. Warming temperatures and changing rainfall patterns are expanding the range of disease-carrying insects, such as mosquitoes, into new regions. Chronic diseases, including diabetes, heart conditions, and mental health disorders, are also becoming more severe under the influence of air pollution and extreme weather events.
Huser explains that, “Climate change doesn’t create new diseases but exacerbates existing ones. For example, diabetes complications become more frequent in a changing climate.”
The curriculum will also address antimicrobial resistance, which is being worsened by climate-related disruptions, and educate students on sustainable healthcare practices.
Future doctors will be encouraged to promote ‘green prescribing,’ such as recommending walking, cycling, or community gardening, which benefit both health and the environment. Additionally, students will learn to manage conditions with lower environmental impact- for instance, shifting asthma patients from gas-emitting inhalers to dry powder alternatives.
The initiative aims to teach climate literacy throughout the medical curriculum, moving beyond standalone modules. Prof. Iain McInnes, the co-chair of ENCHE, emphasised that, “We want doctors to see climate change as integral to their work, just like managing obesity or smoking. It should become part of the DNA of being a doctor.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) and major healthcare companies, including AstraZeneca, GSK, and Roche, are supporting the initiative through the Sustainable Markets Initiative Health Systems Task Force.
Enche will also serve as a regional hub for the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education (GCCHE) at Columbia University.
Prof. Cecilia Sorensen, director of the GCCHE, stressed that, “Climate change impacts us all, but its effects vary by region. Health professionals must be equipped to respond to the unique challenges faced by their communities.”
This collaborative effort marks the first comprehensive attempt to incorporate climate change into undergraduate medical education across Europe. It also seeks to influence national regulatory bodies, such as the UK’s General Medical Council, to make climate crisis education mandatory for all medical professionals.
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