PHAM 2022: breaking boundaries to make Planetary Health a planetary movement
Luca Martinalli
In 2017, Sam Myers, Director of the Planetary Health Alliance, stated during the Academy of Medical Sciences & The Lancet International Health Lecture:
“Our house is on fire. Natural systems are starting to crumble around us, along with the climate system, our oceans, our terrestrial ecosystems, and the biodiversity that inhabits them. We are in peril. There is an urgency, I think, to acknowledge the predicament we’re in and take action to get back on track. But I think these challenges, despite their size, can be met.”
At the time, the PHA was a consortium of nearly 70 institutions dedicated to advancing a brand-new field of research and social movement that was entering its third year. Five years later, in a warmer world and after a pandemic, the urgency of Planetary Health remains central, and the Alliance continues to grow rapidly, now encompassing more than 300 universities, non-governmental organizations, and governmental entities. The 2022 Planetary Health Annual Meeting at Harvard University in Boston, where everything began in 2015, aimed to reflect on this exciting journey, guided by the theme ‘Building the Field and Growing the Movement’.
As a fifth-year medical student at the University of Pavia in Italy, being a 2022 Planetary Health Campus Ambassador provided me with the unique opportunity to deepen my knowledge of Planetary Health. I was able to benefit from an extensive educational program and had the privilege of networking and collaborating with many students worldwide who strongly believe that this discipline will represent one of the most promising solutions for the problems of our uncertain future. During this year, as the first PHCA from an Italian university, I worked to lay the foundation for the further expansion of Planetary Health in Italian universities, trying to incorporate it into medical curricula through the organization of in-person and online conferences. In addition, recognizing the central role of youth in this process, I launched Planetary Health NextGen, a project organized with the support of PHA and Ghislieri College, a 450-year-old College of Merit in Pavia. It is designed to inspire young students through conferences in which U35 leaders in Planetary Health share their experiences, catalyzing change.
In that regard, the opportunity to attend the 2022 PHAM in person was for me the culmination of this project and represented a unique occasion for personal and professional growth. I will specifically focus on three key aspects that I believe were crucial to the success of this event.
Firstly, after a year of intense online programming, it was an invaluable opportunity to meet other Ambassadors in person. As part of the Next Generation Network of the PHA, I believe that we share the responsibility to discuss and think about what we can do to catalyze the spread of Planetary Health within our communities. During our time in Boston, we were able to share the difficulties we are facing in this process of rising awareness about the impact of anthropogenic environmental changes on human health and how we can effectively overcome these issues. At the same time, it was also an opportunity to launch new ideas and collaborations, trying to create a collective and international action to improve PH education, given the global nature of these problems. Finally, we were able to discuss the future direction of Planetary Health, inspired by the input provided during the talks. Since it is still a new field of research and social movement, I think it is important for students to start reflecting on how we can incorporate it in our future professions and what challenges (financial, cultural, educational) it may encounter during its expansion.
Secondly, I think one of the main strengths of this event was the ability to effectively communicate the idea of Planetary Health as a transdisciplinary and solution-oriented approach.
As a medical student, I was impressed by the research data presented during the three-day conference, which illuminated the dramatic impact of anthropogenic environmental changes on human health.
At the same time, learning more about the role of other fields, such as art, in the advancement of PH prompts us to reflect on the interconnectedness of the various dimensions of society that should work together in a synergistic way. I strongly believe that this constitutes one of the main advantages of the Planetary Health approach.
We live in a society where it is highly encouraged to develop expertise only in a particular sector and, as a result, attempts to address environmental problems are often made by individual groups (e.g. doctors addressing health problems related to pollution, ecologists addressing deforestation), leading to inefficiency. Planetary Health, on the other hand, completely changes this paradigm by understanding that it is necessary to adopt a transdisciplinary approach in order to solve the complex issues of our time. In a time of crisis, it is essential to view knowledge as a whole rather than as a fragmented collection of different subjects that cannot communicate organically. Furthermore, in order to achieve results, it is necessary to make effective proposals supported by different groups, rather than multiple proposals promoted by single stakeholders. In conclusion, Planetary Health has the ability to analyze the different aspects of the interaction between humans and the environment thanks to the contribution of experts from various fields. They aim to create a new common language and propose holistic solutions that can be widely implemented and successful. In my opinion, the 2022 PHAM efficiently conveyed this strong and central message.
Finally, I believe that the Planetary Health Annual Meetings have the central role of keeping track of the advancement of the field, reflecting on achievements, and planning the next years of activities. Since there is still a lack of Planetary Health curricula (although this is hopefully changing as new courses and degrees are implemented worldwide each year), it is essential to organize events like this to help professionals understand how to integrate Planetary Health into their work. These meetings can both promote the actions of the Alliance and provide updates on the state of the field.
Since I have been reappointed as a 2023 PHCA, I am planning to take the projects developed this year to the next level and continue working to make Planetary Health education a central part of medical education in Italy. Additionally, I will try to transcend the boundaries of medicine, starting to recognize the importance of a Planetary Health education for those studying other subjects. In this regard, PHAMs provide the opportunity to create a timeline for planning activities and set achievable mid-term goals.
To conclude, we live in a changing world in which the dramatic impact of anthropogenic environmental changes threatens to undermine decades of public health progress. At the same time, there is hope for a better future by implementing approaches that recognize and analyze the impact of these changes and seek to fix them. The rapid growth of the Planetary Health Alliance in recent years makes the 2024 PHAM in Malaysia a crucial moment for analyzing the future direction of this field of research and social movement that has established itself as a central way of addressing contemporary environmental problems over the past decade. This event gave me the hope that Sam Myers’ words (“these challenges, despite their size, can be met”) are still relevant and motivate participants to continue working to advance this field.
