Raz Raanan, Negev Maya, Hauzer Michael, Miller Eliaz, Paltiel Ora, Kissinger Meidad
Braun School of Public Health, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem- Hadassah, Jerusalem, Israel.
School of Public Health, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
Isr J Health Policy Res. 2025 May 1;14(1):19. doi: 10.1186/s13584-025-00684-6.
Environmental management in the Israeli health system is driven primarily by safety regulations. Such regulations aim to reduce hazardous exposures to employees, patients, and visitors, as well as some specific aspects of broader environmental toxicity to humans and nature. Most environmental precautions in the system target traditional exposures and do not specifically consider the health system's own impact on climate change. This article aims to justify incorporating climate change mitigation actions into short- and long-term plans in Israeli health organizations and present a schematic strategic roadmap to do so.
Climate change poses many threats to global health, including risks from severe weather events, changes in vector-borne diseases, increased hazardous air pollutants, food and water shortages, and adverse effects on reproductive health. The most effective effort in climate change mitigation is reducing greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere. Ignoring the health sector's emissions contradicts the ancient medical principle: first, do no harm (primum non-nocere). Furthermore, many climate mitigation methods introduce additional health co-benefits. Special attention and medical considerations are needed to safely reduce emissions from the health sector. This article reviews healthcare's most common emission sources, including energy consumption, transportation, food, waste, supplies, and the supply chain. An organizational carbon management strategy should include recognizing the problem and committing to action, estimating the organizational carbon footprint, developing and prioritizing alternative interventions, and developing a carbon management plan with measurable short- and intermediate-term goals.
Climate mitigation in the health sector is encompassed by the moral obligation of the Israeli healthcare system to do no harm. Performance measures to support GHG emission reductions should be adopted into the existing, successful Israeli programs of quality measures in medicine, both in the community and hospitals. In addition, Israel academic institutions for health and medical education should incorporate sustainable health into their curricula for students of health professions and as part of continuous medical education. Such policy actions will contribute to a healthy health system that supports climate change mitigation while providing health co-benefits to the Israeli population.
以色列卫生系统中的环境管理主要由安全法规推动。此类法规旨在减少员工、患者和访客接触有害物质的情况，以及更广泛的环境对人类和自然毒性的一些特定方面。该系统中的大多数环境预防措施针对传统接触情况，并未特别考虑卫生系统自身对气候变化的影响。本文旨在说明将减缓气候变化行动纳入以色列卫生组织的短期和长期计划的合理性，并提出这样做的示意性战略路线图。
气候变化对全球健康构成诸多威胁，包括极端天气事件带来的风险、媒介传播疾病的变化、有害空气污染物增加、食物和水短缺以及对生殖健康的不利影响。减缓气候变化最有效的努力是减少向大气排放温室气体。忽视卫生部门的排放违背了古老的医学原则：首先，不造成伤害（首要的是不伤害）。此外，许多减缓气候变化的方法还带来额外的健康益处。安全减少卫生部门的排放需要特别关注和医学考量。本文回顾了医疗保健中最常见的排放源，包括能源消耗、交通、食品、废物、用品和供应链。组织的碳管理战略应包括认识问题并承诺采取行动、估算组织的碳足迹、制定替代干预措施并确定优先次序，以及制定具有可衡量短期和中期目标的碳管理计划。
卫生部门的气候减缓包含在以色列医疗系统不造成伤害的道德义务之中。支持减少温室气体排放的绩效指标应纳入以色列现有的、成功的医学质量指标计划，包括社区和医院的计划。此外，以色列的健康和医学教育学术机构应将可持续健康纳入其针对卫生专业学生的课程以及继续医学教育的一部分。此类政策行动将有助于建立一个健康的卫生系统，该系统在支持减缓气候变化的同时为以色列民众提供健康益处。
