It's here! Are we ready? Five case studies of health promotion practices that address climate change from within Victorian health care settings

Abstract

Issue addressed Climate changes and environmental degradation caused by anthropogenic activities are having an irrefutable impact on human health. The critical role played by health promotion in addressing environmental challenges has a history in seminal charters – such as the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion – that explicitly link human well-being with the natural environment. The lack of documented practice in this field prompted an investigation of health promotion practice that addresses climate change issues within health care settings. Methods This qualitative study involved five case studies of Victorian health care agencies that explicitly identified climate change as a priority. Individual and group interviews with ten health promotion funded practitioners as well as document analysis techniques were used to explore diverse practices across these rural, regional and urban health care agencies. Results Health promotion practice in these agencies was oriented toward: active and sustainable transport; healthy and sustainable food supply; mental health and community resilience; engaging vulnerable population groups such as women; and organisational development. Conclusion Despite differences in approach, target population and context, the core finding was that health promotion strategies, competencies and frameworks were transferable to action on climate change in these health care settings. So what? The flexibility and innovation inherent to health promotion approaches to complex, multi-causal problems, is complementary to the emerging work in the field of sustainability – cementing health promotion's central place in promoting the health of people and communities, now and into the future.