Prince of Wales to open RSM series on health impacts of climate change

HRH The Prince of Wales to open Royal Society of Medicine series on health impacts of climate change.

A series of webinars that will position health and wellbeing at the centre of the climate change debate will be opened with a pre-recorded video message from His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales on Tuesday 16 March. The 10-part series, presented by the Royal Society of Medicine, is designed to brief healthcare professionals with the latest evidence about the links between climate change and the health of their patients and how they can help combat climate change and its effects.

Following a welcome message from The Prince of Wales at the event on 16 March, Professor Linda Luxon, Trustee of the Royal Society of Medicine, will be joined by leading authorities in the field of climate change and health. Together they will discuss the scale of the climate change emergency, provide an insight into the health conditions impacted by climate change, and explore how sustainable practices can mitigate the impact of healthcare systems on the climate.

The panel of speakers will include Professor Howard Frumkin, Professor Emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Washington; Professor Hugh Montgomery, Professor of Intensive Care Medicine at UCL and Director of the Centre for Human Health & Performance; Dr Tolullah Oni, Urban Epidemiologist at the Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge; and Dr David Pencheon, founding Director of the NHS Sustainable Development Unit.

Prof Luxon said: “The aim of these webinars is to accelerate awareness of the many, perhaps less recognised, health disadvantages caused by climate change. By drawing attention to the issues and encouraging health professionals to take action to mitigate climate change the series will tackle the defining public health challenge of the 21st century.”

Episode 1 of The health emergency of climate change is free to attend and will take place on Tuesday 16 March at 6pm.