IMPLEMENTING PLANETARY HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY IN INTERNATIONAL PHYSIOTHERAPY EDUCATION
F. Maric1,2, S. Banerjee3, S.-S. Baldew4, J. Hartman5, K. Mostert6
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
1UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Department of Health and Care Sciences, Tromsø, Norway, 2Environmental Physiotherapy Association, Tromsø, Norway, 3The Neotia University, Department of Health Science, Uttarpara, India, 4Anton de Kom University of Suriname, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Paramaribo, Suriname, 5University of Wisconsin, School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, United States, 6University of Pretoria, Department of Physiotherapy, Pretoria, South Africa
Learning objective 1: Participants will have an understanding of planetary health, sustainability, and related strategies like the UN SDGs and the WHO COP26 special report on climate change and health
Learning objective 2: Participants will gain insight into diverse possibilities for implementing planetary health, environmental and sustainability education in physiotherapy training and subsequent practise in diverse national, cultural, socioeconomic and environmental contexts around the world
Learning objective 3: Participants will gain the necessary know-how for advancing the implementation of planetary health, environmental and sustainability education in their respective contexts
Description: Today’s world is marked by unprecedented large-scale environmental degradation. Human driven land use and change of more than three-quarters of the face of the earth, climate change, loss of biodiversity and environmental pollution are drastically changing the composition and functioning of our planetary ecosystem and, in turn, disrupting the conditions necessary for human survival, health and flourishing. Degradations of our planetary ecosystem are intimately associated with increasing prevalence of communicable and non-communicable diseases and decreasing human wellbeing. The UN Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and the WHO clearly highlight the urgent need for transformative paradigm shifts that include training the health workforce to respond to climate change, environmental degradation, and their implications for the health of present and future generations. The Environmental Physiotherapy Association (EPA) was formed in the second half of 2019 as the world’s first international network of, now over 850 physiotherapy clinicians, students, academics, and professional representatives focused on advancing environmental responsibility across physiotherapy research, education and practice (https://environmmentalphysio.com/).
At the beginning of 2020, the EPA launched the EPT Agenda 2023 as an international call to action and collaboration for the implementation of planetary health, environmental and sustainability education in global physiotherapy education (https://eptagenda2023.com/). Since then, the EPT Agenda 2023 has garnered the support of over 540 individual signatories and 31 supporting organizations from around the world, many of which are also individual members or member organizations of World Physiotherapy respectively. Over 52 physiotherapy education institutions from every continent of the world are now working together on the EPT Agenda 2023, helping our profession to take seminal first steps at the implementation of planetary health, environmental and sustainability education in their respective national, cultural, linguistic, socioeconomic, and ecological contexts.
In response to the UN Agenda 2030 call for ‘transforming our world’, this process of transformative pedagogical innovation for people and planet embraces an enhancement and re-envisioning of physiotherapy itself. As competencies, learning outcomes, relevant content and corresponding pedagogical approaches are increasingly formulated, trialled and tested, pedagogical innovation for people and planet entails drawing out our profession's potential to reduce the significant environmental footprint of healthcare systems, hospitals and pharmaceuticals through our long histories and extensive expertise with low-carbon, low-resource interventions of touch, movement and communication. Learning about the interdependent relationships between environment, health and physiotherapy also entails re-learning how fundamental ecosystem services shape human structure, function, and participation, and considering how the physiotherapy profession might innovate and embrace new responsibilities that merge rehabilitation with ecosystems restoration. Participation in the EPT Agenda 2023 has enabled physiotherapy students, educators, researchers, and clinicians to collaborate with each other, with colleagues across other healthcare professions, the environmental and natural sciences, and many more, to develop education for a more sustainable, equitable and resilient future for health and wellbeing that leaves no one behind.
This focused symposium will provide its audience with an immersive experience into one of the most urgent and innovative developments in the physiotherapy profession that is equally relevant across research, practice, and education. Through an in-depth course through diverse exemplary cases for the implementation of planetary health, environmental and sustainability education into physiotherapy training around the world, participants will (1) gain an understanding of planetary health, sustainability, and related strategies like the UN SDGs and the WHO COP26 special report on climate change and health; (2) gain insight into diverse possibilities for implementing planetary health, environmental and sustainability education in physiotherapy training and subsequent practise in diverse national, cultural, socioeconomic and environmental contexts around the world; and (3) gain the necessary know-how for advancing the implementation of planetary health, environmental and sustainability education in their respective contexts. In a world marked by rapid and fundamental social and environmental change, these are the necessary foundations for our profession's contribution to sustainable health and wellbeing for present and future generations in a liveable world.
At the beginning of 2020, the EPA launched the EPT Agenda 2023 as an international call to action and collaboration for the implementation of planetary health, environmental and sustainability education in global physiotherapy education (https://eptagenda2023.com/). Since then, the EPT Agenda 2023 has garnered the support of over 540 individual signatories and 31 supporting organizations from around the world, many of which are also individual members or member organizations of World Physiotherapy respectively. Over 52 physiotherapy education institutions from every continent of the world are now working together on the EPT Agenda 2023, helping our profession to take seminal first steps at the implementation of planetary health, environmental and sustainability education in their respective national, cultural, linguistic, socioeconomic, and ecological contexts.
In response to the UN Agenda 2030 call for ‘transforming our world’, this process of transformative pedagogical innovation for people and planet embraces an enhancement and re-envisioning of physiotherapy itself. As competencies, learning outcomes, relevant content and corresponding pedagogical approaches are increasingly formulated, trialled and tested, pedagogical innovation for people and planet entails drawing out our profession's potential to reduce the significant environmental footprint of healthcare systems, hospitals and pharmaceuticals through our long histories and extensive expertise with low-carbon, low-resource interventions of touch, movement and communication. Learning about the interdependent relationships between environment, health and physiotherapy also entails re-learning how fundamental ecosystem services shape human structure, function, and participation, and considering how the physiotherapy profession might innovate and embrace new responsibilities that merge rehabilitation with ecosystems restoration. Participation in the EPT Agenda 2023 has enabled physiotherapy students, educators, researchers, and clinicians to collaborate with each other, with colleagues across other healthcare professions, the environmental and natural sciences, and many more, to develop education for a more sustainable, equitable and resilient future for health and wellbeing that leaves no one behind.
This focused symposium will provide its audience with an immersive experience into one of the most urgent and innovative developments in the physiotherapy profession that is equally relevant across research, practice, and education. Through an in-depth course through diverse exemplary cases for the implementation of planetary health, environmental and sustainability education into physiotherapy training around the world, participants will (1) gain an understanding of planetary health, sustainability, and related strategies like the UN SDGs and the WHO COP26 special report on climate change and health; (2) gain insight into diverse possibilities for implementing planetary health, environmental and sustainability education in physiotherapy training and subsequent practise in diverse national, cultural, socioeconomic and environmental contexts around the world; and (3) gain the necessary know-how for advancing the implementation of planetary health, environmental and sustainability education in their respective contexts. In a world marked by rapid and fundamental social and environmental change, these are the necessary foundations for our profession's contribution to sustainable health and wellbeing for present and future generations in a liveable world.
References: Steffen, W., et al. (2015). Planetary boundaries: Guiding human development on a changing planet. Science, 347(6223), 1259855-1259855.https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1259855
United Nations. (2015).Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, A/RES/70/1. UN General Assembly available at:https://www.refworld.org/docid/57b6e3e44.html
World Health Organization. (2021). COP26 special report on climate change and health: the health argument for climate action. Geneva: World Health Organization.https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/cop26-special-report
Maric, F. & Nicholls, D.A. (2020). Paradigm shifts are hard to come by: looking ahead of COVID-19 with the social and environmental determinants of health and the UN SDGs, European Journal of Physiotherapy, 22(6).https://doi.org/10.1080/21679169.2020.1826577
Maric, F., et al. (2021). A progress report on planetary health, environmental and sustainability education in physiotherapy – Editorial.European Journal of Physiotherapy,23(4), 201–202.https://doi.org/10.1080/21679169.2021.1932981
Thompson, T., et al. (2014). Learning objectives for sustainable health care.The Lancet,384(9958), 1924–1925.https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(14)62274-1
Guzmán, C. A. F., et al. (2021). A framework to guide planetary health education.The Lancet Planetary Health,5(5), e253–e255. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2542-5196(21)00110-8
Banerjee, S., & Maric, F. (2021). Mitigating the environmental impact of NSAIDs–physiotherapy as a contribution to One Health and the SDGs.European Journal of Physiotherapy, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1080/21679169.2021.1976272
Stanhope, J., Maric, F., Rothmore, P., & Weinstein, P. (2021). Physiotherapy and ecosystem services: improving the health of our patients, the population, and the environment.Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/09593985.2021.2015814
Maric, F., & Nicholls, D.A. (2021). Environmental physiotherapy and the case for multispecies justice in planetary health.Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/09593985.2021.1964659
United Nations. (2015).Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, A/RES/70/1. UN General Assembly available at:https://www.refworld.org/docid/57b6e3e44.html
World Health Organization. (2021). COP26 special report on climate change and health: the health argument for climate action. Geneva: World Health Organization.https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/cop26-special-report
Maric, F. & Nicholls, D.A. (2020). Paradigm shifts are hard to come by: looking ahead of COVID-19 with the social and environmental determinants of health and the UN SDGs, European Journal of Physiotherapy, 22(6).https://doi.org/10.1080/21679169.2020.1826577
Maric, F., et al. (2021). A progress report on planetary health, environmental and sustainability education in physiotherapy – Editorial.European Journal of Physiotherapy,23(4), 201–202.https://doi.org/10.1080/21679169.2021.1932981
Thompson, T., et al. (2014). Learning objectives for sustainable health care.The Lancet,384(9958), 1924–1925.https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(14)62274-1
Guzmán, C. A. F., et al. (2021). A framework to guide planetary health education.The Lancet Planetary Health,5(5), e253–e255. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2542-5196(21)00110-8
Banerjee, S., & Maric, F. (2021). Mitigating the environmental impact of NSAIDs–physiotherapy as a contribution to One Health and the SDGs.European Journal of Physiotherapy, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1080/21679169.2021.1976272
Stanhope, J., Maric, F., Rothmore, P., & Weinstein, P. (2021). Physiotherapy and ecosystem services: improving the health of our patients, the population, and the environment.Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/09593985.2021.2015814
Maric, F., & Nicholls, D.A. (2021). Environmental physiotherapy and the case for multispecies justice in planetary health.Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/09593985.2021.1964659
Funding acknowledgements: Not applicable.
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
