College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide 5042, Australia.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jan 18;20(3):1750. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20031750.
Climate change is the greatest global health threat of the 21st century, with numerous direct and indirect human health consequences. Local governments play a critical role in communities' response to climate change, both through strategies to reduce emissions and adaption plans to respond to changing climate and extreme weather events. Australian local government environmental health officers (EHOs) have the relevant skills and expertise to inform and develop adaptation plans for health protection in the context of climate change. This study used an online survey followed by phone interviews of local government management to determine the extent to which EHOs are involved in adaptation planning in health protection climate change plans. Questions were also asked to determine whether local councils are aware of EHOs' capability to contribute and to gauge the willingness of management to provide EHOs with the workload capacity to do so. The findings demonstrated that although climate adaptation and mitigation planning is occurring in local government, it is not including or considering the public health impacts on the community. Primarily, it was found that this oversight was due to a lack of awareness of the health impacts of climate change outside of a disaster or emergency scenario. Currently, EHOs are an untapped source of knowledge and skills that can contribute to climate change adaption planning. To support this, a framework of local environmental health practice was developed to assist the reconceptualization of the scope of practice required for the planning and response to climate change.
气候变化是 21 世纪最大的全球健康威胁，对人类健康造成了许多直接和间接的影响。地方政府在社区应对气候变化方面发挥着关键作用，不仅可以通过减排战略，还可以通过适应计划来应对气候变化和极端天气事件。澳大利亚地方政府环境卫生官员（EHO）拥有相关技能和专业知识，可以在气候变化背景下为健康保护提供信息和制定适应计划。本研究采用在线调查和地方政府管理部门电话访谈相结合的方式，确定了 EHO 参与健康保护气候变化计划适应规划的程度。还询问了地方议会是否了解 EHO 做出贡献的能力，并评估了管理层是否愿意为 EHO 提供完成工作的工作量。研究结果表明，尽管地方政府正在进行气候适应和缓解规划，但这些规划并未包含或考虑气候变化对社区的公共卫生影响。主要原因是人们缺乏对气候变化对灾害或紧急情况以外的社区的健康影响的认识。目前，EHO 是一个未被充分利用的知识和技能来源，可以为气候变化适应规划做出贡献。为此，制定了一个地方环境卫生实践框架，以协助重新构想规划和应对气候变化所需的实践范围。
