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Doctors for the Environment Australia turns 25
As the group marks its anniversary, it has been praised for showing the role of doctors ‘extends beyond the consult room’.
‘DEA demonstrates that our role as doctors extends beyond the consult room.’
A lot has changed in the past 25 years – especially when it comes to our climate.
And for those 25 years, Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA) has been at the forefront of connecting health and climate, of advocating for a healthier environment, and of championing solutions to protect people and the planet.
Celebrating its anniversary this month, the advocacy body is being recognised for its impact on Australia’s healthcare landscape and for the tangible changes it has created.
‘We are proud to have helped drive significant progress over the last 25 years,’ DEA Executive Director Dr Kate Wylie said.
Dr Nicole Sleeman, Chair of RACGP Specific Interests Climate and Environmental Medicine, added that DEA has delivered ‘consistent impact’ since it began in 2001.
‘DEA demonstrates that our role as doctors extends beyond the consult room,’ she said.
‘In the face of escalating climate impacts, its advocacy is critical.’
DEA was founded by the late Professor David Shearman, the late Professor Tony McMichael, Dr Bill Castleden, Dr Grant Blashki, Dr Kevin Chamberlin, Dr Roscoe Taylor and Dr Colin Butler.
It aimed to ‘bring the trusted voice of doctors to environmental protection and climate change as a public health issue’.
Since then, DEA’s list of achievements is long and varied:
- Lobbying the Federal Government to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, which was signed in 2007
- Highlighting severe health impacts from pollution generated by the Port Augusta coal-fired power station
- Launching a landmark legal challenge opposing a new coal-fired power station in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley
- Releasing No Time for Games: Children’s Health and Climate Change
- Leading a national push for medical colleges to recognise climate change as a public health emergency
- Supporting successful efforts to halt offshore oil drilling in the Great Australian Bight
- Influencing the development of new climate-aware standards in medical education curricula
- Calling for an end to new residential gas connections and the phase-out of gas appliances in the home
RACGP President Dr Michael Wright congratulated the body on achieving the 25-year milestone, saying it highlights the importance of collaboration across healthcare.
‘GPs see first-hand how environmental factors, from extreme heat and air pollution to changing patterns of infectious disease, affect patients and communities,’ he said.
‘As trusted health professionals, GPs have an important role to play in identifying, reducing and managing the health impacts of climate change.
‘We also know that encouraging more care which focuses on keeping people well in the community is the best way to limit the impact of the health system on our planet.
‘We look forward to continuing to work alongside DEA to support patients and communities, and to help ensure a healthier, more sustainable future for all.’
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