Healthy Climate Prescription: An Urgent Call for Climate Action from the Health Community ahead of COP26

The 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in November 2021 is a critical moment to raise our voices to protect people worldwide from catastrophic climate change. The health community is coming together to send #HealthyClimate Prescription letter to national leaders, country delegations, and decision makers, calling for real actions to address the climate crisis.

The WFPHA has signed the letter to advocate for climate action now in order to protect the planet, and the health, wellbeing and prosperity of all people alive today and for generations to come.

EU Commission’s Response to Co-signed Open Letter on Access to COVID-19 Vaccines and Therapies

“The Commission is committed to the objective of universal equitable access to vaccines and treatments against COVID-19.”

The European Commission has responded the co-signed open letter on access to COVID-19 vaccines and therapies.

The open letter was sent by a broad coalition of civil society organisations across Europe urgently calling on governments and EU institutions to implement a COVID-19 response based on global solidarity and to act to ensure that COVID-19 vaccines and medical products are available to everyone, everywhere in the world by waiving Intellectual Property Rights and sharing know-how and technology widely.

WFPHA Working Groups: Welcoming New Chairs/Co-chairs and Thanking Outgoing Chairs

At WFPHA, our mission is to protect people, prevent diseases, and promote health and wellbeing. Our 10 diverse Working Groups help us achieve our mission through advocacy, collaborative work, and support. We are constantly overwhelmed by the efforts they put forth to uphold our mission and reach our universal goals.

Recently, we have had to say goodbye to two of our valued working group chairs, Prof. Raman Bedi (Oral Health) and Dr. Florian Stigler (Tobacco Control) as they take on their next venture. They have served us exceptionally well over the years, and we would like to thank them for their contributions within the WFPHA. They committed their time supporting WFPHA working groups and provided assisting through collective work and implementation. We appreciate their efforts and wish them a fruitful journey ahead.

As we say goodbye to some of our previous working group chairs, we also would like to give a warm welcome to those who have just joined: Hannah Marcus (Environmental Health), John Gannon (Tobacco Control), Leanne Coombe (Public Health Professionals’ Education and Training), and Timothy Mackey (Global Health Equity and Digital Technology).

We are excited to see the difference our new working group chairs/co-chairs will contribute to in global health. We hope this experience brings jubilation and achievement to both them and us!

Ensuring a Trained Public Health Workforce

Globally, public health training mainly occurs through Master of Public Health (MPH) programmes, although undergraduate and doctoral programmes exist. Although difficult to measure, globally public health teaching programmes appear to be increasing in number. Accreditation of public health programmes is however inconsistent. There are several locally developed public health competency sets, designed to guide the content of public health education programmes and practice guidelines. Developing such competencies as well as how to tackle hyper-specialised, fragmented and ‘silo’ learning models to influence complex webs of policy and governance, can be done through building interprofessionality and interdisciplinarity.

Public Health Answers: Trust in Science during the COVID-19 Pandemic

In this episode of Public Health Answers, we talk to Dr Michael Moore AM, Former Minister of Health and Community Care and an Independent member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly from 1989 to 2001, to know how public health experts and politicians can work together to build up trust in science among community when facing a pandemic.

Click on the link below to watch the video on our YouTube. Let us know what you think and what questions you would like to ask public health experts. Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below the video.

Co-building a New Eco-Social World: Leaving No One Behind

“Our vision is that when we emerge from this pandemic, we co-build a world based on values that ensure our planet will be sustainable, and together we can provide good quality life-cycles, not only for each human being, but for each part of our eco-systems on which we all depend, leaving no one behind.”

The World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA) is very proud to be a partner to the Co-building a New Eco-Social World: Leaving No One Behind summit.

Initiated by the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development and the International Federation of Social Workers, this summit will take place before the United Nations High-Level Political Forum in July 2022.

To become more familiar with this summit, please read below the press release from the summit partners.