THIS EVENT IS POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE- Can the global health community lead on climate action? Increasingly, climate change is taking on an evolving health profile. With visible and invisible impacts such as rising temperatures and heat stresses, urban air pollution, extreme weather events, rising sea levels, shifting wildlife populations and habitats – climate change impacts human health and wellbeing from infancy and adolescence to adulthood and old age. Millions of people are already suffering from the catastrophic effects of extreme disasters exacerbated by climate change. In addition to threatening our very existence, climate change is having harmful impacts on our rights to life, health, food, water, housing and livelihoods.

The science of climate change describes a range of possible futures. These futures depend on the actions and inactions of society in the face of a warming world. Policies implemented by governments will have far-reaching effects on the health of citizens. Pivotal voices such as Greta Thunberg have accelerated climate conversations considerably over 2019 alone.

This event brings together experts from academia, government and NGOs to answer the question of if global health actors can play a key role in shaping those futures. Panellists will discuss emerging threats to health and the current state of global environmental policy. Discussions will present interdisciplinary perspectives related to placing health at the centre of decision making on climate as well as looking at international governments’ role in disaster risk management, supporting sustainable cities, and advocating for the need to put people at the centre of the climate change discussion.

About the speakers: 

Professor Virginia Murray Consultant in Global Disaster Risk Reduction, Public Health England. Virginia Murray FFPH, FRCP, FFOM, FRCPath qualified in medicine. In 1980 she joined Guy and St Thomas’s Hospital Poisons Unit and in 1986 was appointed consultant medical toxicologist. On 1 January 2011, she was appointed as Head of HPA’s Extreme Events and Health Protection section (since April 1 2013 this was transferred to Public Health England). She is taking forward work on evidence base information and advice on flooding, heat, cold, volcanic ash, and other extreme weather and natural hazards events. In addition, Virginia has been a Coordinating Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation, published in March 2012. She has been the UK Government member on the UN International Strategy for Disaster Scientific and Technical Advisory Group since 2008 and she is also a member of the Hyogo Framework for Action Mid Term Review Advisory Group, representing science, for the UN ISDR since 2010 and this role is likely to be ongoing to 2015.

Julia Simons Medical Student, Member of Doctors for Extinction Rebellion (@SJimons). Julia Simons is a final year medical student, member of Doctors for Extinction Rebellion and member of The Doctor’s Association UK

Dr Jose Siri Senior Science Lead, Wellcome Trust (@josegsiri). Jose leads Wellcome’s research, partnership and policy work on how to make cities healthier and more sustainable. He was most recently a research fellow at the United Nations University International Institute for Global Health (UNU-IIGH) in Kuala Lumpur, where he led research, policy and capacity-building efforts in urban health. Jose was also a co-investigator for Salud Urbana en América Latina (SALURBAL), a Wellcome-funded project to improve urban health across Latin America.  He was educated at Cornell University (BS), the University of Michigan (MPH and PhD), and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (postdoc) in Austria.

Chair:

Dr Charles Ebikeme, Policy Officer, Department of Health Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His previous research has focused on drug development for neglected tropical diseases, most notably African sleeping sickness. Prior to joining LSE, Charles has worked at the intersection of research and policy, focusing on mainstreaming health into sustainable development topics such as climate change and urbanisation. Charles is currently part of the LSE team working on the African Health Observatory - Platform on Health Systems & Policies (AHOP). The partnership includes WHO’s African Health Observatory, the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and leading research institutions in Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda and Senegal, with further expansion planned. The Platform seeks to promote evidence-informed policy-making in the African region by synthesising existing research and generating new evidence on health systems performance. Charles is also a policy fellow at the Cambridge Centre for Science and Policy. Charles is a writer and commentator on science, policy, and global health issues. His work has appeared in The Guardian alongside other outlets.