CAHA chief is seeking our support

Fiona Armstrong wants our help.

The executive director of the Melbourne-based Climate and Health Alliance (CAHA) wants our help in campaigning for a national strategy on climate, health and well-being to assist Australia in meeting its commitments under the Paris Agreement.

In a letter seeking support she says:

“Over the last few months, CAHA has been leading the development of a campaign to engage and mobilise health professionals and healthcare stakeholders in support of advocacy for climate action, specifically in support of policy at the national level to limit the health impacts of globe warming and to ensure climate policies include strategies that not only reduce emissions, but also deliver health co-benefits.

With its signing of the Paris Agreement, Australia has committed to recognise its citizens’ “rights to health” in the context of climate policy, and to recognise the “health co-benefits” of climate mitigation.

Our campaign intends to mobilise a wide range of healthcare stakeholders to join us in campaigning for a national strategy on climate, health and well-being to assist Australia in meeting its commitments under the Paris Agreement.

This campaign involves organising, outreach and engagement, training and capacity building of health professionals, policy research and advocacy, and communications. We are building a group of volunteer organisers who are working with key groups to sign them up as campaign partners, and acquiring eminent persons as campaign ‘ambassadors’.

We have already had a ’soft’ launch in the circulation of a Discussion Paper to around 250 healthcare stakeholders over the last month, and an invitation to them to respond to a Survey about the key elements of a national strategy.

This week will see a virtual launch in that we will put out a media release targeting the forthcoming Health Minister and arguing the health portfolio must now take a lead role in climate policy for Australia in order to protect and promote health and well-being.

We have one of our campaign ambassadors Professor Peter Doherty, Nobel Laureate for Medicine, lined up for a one-on-one interview with Greg Borschmann on Radio National about 7am on Wednesday. Please tune in!

Peter and I are co-authors of an article that will also appear in The Conversation on Wednesday. Please tweet and share!

I’m giving you a heads-up because the health story is a critical one in our movement narrative, because health and medical professionals are trusted and respected voices, and because framing climate as a health issue is a frame that works across all audience segments.

I hope you will support the campaign this week by sharing the links via social media and with your networks - we will send them around on Wednesday.”