The Climate Crisis, Also A Health Crisis

This article was exclusively written for The European Sting by Mr. Christian Stricker, a fifth-year medical student at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands. He is affiliated with the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA), cordial partner of The Sting. The opinions expressed in this piece belong strictly to the writer and do not necessarily reflect IFMSA’s view on the topic, nor The European Sting’s one.

“Schoenmaker, houd je bij je leest!”

I read this comment on the intranet of the University Medical Center Groningen, written beneath an article shared about medical students taking action for a just and healthy climate policy. It roughly translates to “stick to your own area of expertise” in Dutch. As medical students, we find ourselves often having to explain how the detrimental effects of climate change [will] have dire consequences on health(care), including to other health professionals. 

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28th September 2023 marks the twentieth day of the blockade of the A12 freeway in The Hague, the Netherlands. Climate activists are blocking the freeway daily in order to protest the fossil fuel subsidies that the Dutch Government is allocating; a sum that has recently been increased to 47,5 billion euros per year. Among them are individuals from various backgrounds: elderly, youth activists, parents with children, musicians, scientists and academics, doctors, nurses and medical students. The government has set in police, with videos of individuals in wheelchairs, children and elderly being removed from demonstrations for “their own safety” before firing water cannons at the peaceful demonstrators, cannons that shoot between 1200 to 2000 liters per minute. 

However, when we think about safety, are we also thinking about keeping these very people safe from health risks? Are we thinking about the rising rates of newly-onset asthma caused by decreasing air quality? Or the rising death rates among the elderly during the summer in Europe due to heat stress? Do we consider that, in the event of climate disasters, individuals with disabilities are more likely to die due to lack of access to infrastructure, including healthcare?

Meanwhile presently in IJmond, approximately 30 kilometers from the bustling capital of Amsterdam, citizens have an increased risk of developing lung cancer and have a lower life expectancy than the national average. A direct correlation has been drawn by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) to Tata Steel, the largest polluter in the Netherlands with regards to CO2 emissions. 

When these citizens take a seat in our consultation rooms, will they simply be given the bad news and sent home to continue breathing the toxic air that brought them to us in the first place? Is that how we, as (future) health professionals, are going to treat our patiënts?

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With already existing health inequities and inequalities, vulnerable groups in all regards are susceptible to the negative health impacts of climate change. 

Climate disasters such as droughts and floods lead to food and water scarcity; displacement leading to disrupted access to care; increased [psychological] stress that results in mental health issues and chronic high cortisol levels, impacting a myriad of bodily functions; climate violence exacerbating violence against women and children. The list goes on.

Climate change is a risk multiplier, and it does so exponentially.  

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Prevention is the key to improving patient well-being. The best kind of treatment is the one that does not need to be given in the first place. It’s high time we start prescribing a healthy climate with our treatments, because prescribing a healthy lifestyle is simply insufficient.

So yes, I shall ‘stick to my area of expertise’, and I will explain it to you time and time again until it sinks in: the climate crisis is a health crisis. 

About the author

Christian Stricker is a fifth-year medical student at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands. Originally from South Africa and Bulgaria, he moved to Groningen after graduating high school in Johannesburg to pursue his dream of studying Medicine. With a passion for global health, and namely sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and planetary health, he became an active member of IFMSA where he is currently completing his term as General Assistant for Europe. From a young age, he has been an avid reader and has enjoyed writing as a form of expression.