Main description:

The health sector is known to be one of the major contributors towards the greenhouse gas emissions causing the climate crisis, the greatest health threat of the 21st century. This volume positions the health sector as a leader in the fight against climate change and explores the role of the health system in climate policy action. It delivers an overview of the linkages between climate change and the health sector, with chapters on the impact of climate change on health, its connection to pandemics, and its effects on food, nutrition and air quality, while examining gendered and other vulnerabilities. It delves into the different operational aspects of the health sector in India and details how each one can become climate-smart to reduce the health sector's overall carbon footprint, by looking at sustainable procurement, green and resilient healthcare infrastructure, and the management of transportation, energy, water, waste, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and plastics in healthcare.

Well supplemented with rigorous case studies, the book will be indispensable for students, teachers, and researchers of environmental studies, health sciences and climate change. It will be useful for healthcare workers, public health officials, healthcare leaders, policy planners and those interested in climate resilience and preparedness in the health sector.

The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Contents:

SECTION 1: CLIMATE ACTION BY THE HEALTH SECTOR

1. Health Sector Leadership to Combat Climate Change

Alexander Thomas, Divya Alexander, Girdhar Gyani

2. The Role of Health Systems in the Indian and Global Context

Preeti Soni, Manish Pant

3. Strengthening Healthcare Delivery Systems in Low Income Countries

Zerin Osho, Jagjeet Sareen

4. The Climate Change Policy Framework and Allied Programs in India

Rameshwar Sorokhaibam, Shikha Vardhan, Aakash Srivastava

SECTION 2: THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON HEALTH

5. Disease Pandemics and the Threat of Microbial Emergence

Lalit Kant, Gifty Immanuel, Jai Prakash Narain

6. Climate Change and Human Health: An Overview

Poornima Prabhakaran

7. Air Pollution, Climate Change and the Health Sector: Linkages and Solutions

H. Paramesh, D.J. Christopher, Jyothi S. Menon

8. Nourish or Perish: The Effect of Climate Change on Food, Nutrition and Health

Manu Raj Mathur, Ameeka Shereen Lobo, Himanshi Pandey, Anjali Ganpule-Rao, K. Srinath Reddy

9. Gendered Vulnerabilities and Health Inequities

Vanitha Kommu, Divya Alexander, Lakshmi Lingam

10. The Consequences of Climate Change on Vulnerable Populations

Richa Sharma, R. Srikanth

11. The Status of Heat Health in India

Priya Dutta, Mahaveer Golechha, Dileep Mavalankar

SECTION 3: REDUCING THE CLIMATE FOOTPRINT OF THE HEALTH SECTOR

12. Climate-Smart Healthcare: What Does It Entail?

Josh Karliner, Shriram Manogaran

13. Green and Resilient Health Infrastructure

Yatin Choudhary, Hari Kumar

14. Sustainable Energy Management in the Health Sector

Huda Jaffer, Harish Hande

15. Water Stress and the Effective Management of Water in Healthcare

Shyamala Mani, Samayita Ghosh, R. Srinivasan

16. Sustainable Ways to Manage Waste in Healthcare Facilities

Ananya Tewari, Shyamala Mani

17. Sustainable Transport Solutions in the Health Sector

Shailendra P. Singh, Sundeep Singh Chauhan

18. Sustainable Procurement in Healthcare

Susan Wilburn, Ishika Jharia, Poornima Prabhakaran

SECTION 4: CLIMATE ACTION BY ALLIED SECTORS

19. Environmental Sustainability in the Pharmaceuticals Industry

Suman Sharma, Alba Tiley

20. Chemicals and Climate: Challenges for the Health Sector

Tracey Easthope, Megha Rathi

21. The Paradox of Plastics in Healthcare and Health

Swaminathan Sivaram, Aditi Roy, Swapan K. Ray