Educational Renzo Guinto believes solely huge and daring modifications can heal a planet in a poor state of well being.
Completely reform present financial programs, he says. Decolonise the worldwide well being system and dismantle Western biases. Transcend the United Nations’ Sustainable Improvement Objectives (SDGs) that he believes solely deal with the signs of the local weather disaster.
“I do know what I say could sound utopian, however we have to dream huge … We want an economic system that actually respects the planet’s boundaries.”
The Filipino educational can also be alarmed when folks overlook the hyperlink between fossil fuels and planetary well being instantly. To him, it’s crystal clear that each one well being professionals needs to be supporting the section out of coal and different polluting vitality sources as a result of they hurt each the planet and human well being.
On the COP28 local weather summit final 12 months, which hosted its first-ever “well being day” and the place well being emerged as a pivotal focus, Guinto took the chance to voice his opposition to fossil fuels. On the identical time, whereas he saluted the progress made in acknowledging well being as a part of the local weather agenda, he questioned the true motivation behind its initiation and the endorsement of well being day from entities profiteering from fossil fuels and the local weather disaster, together with the COP28 presidency.
“
We should be cautious of the “healthwashing” at COP. Even dangerous industries or companies supporting and sponsoring coal are pretending to speak about well being now. We should always not permit well being day at COP to be misused by corporations who simply need to look good.
Earlier this 12 months, Guinto moved into a brand new function as affiliate professor at Singhealth Duke-NUS World Well being Institute (SDGHI), run by the Duke-NUS Medical College, a graduate medical faculty in Singapore, after spending almost 4 years at personal non-profit healthcare establishment St Luke’s Medical Centre in Quezon Metropolis within the Philippines.
The subjects he pursues in his analysis on planetary well being – addressing inequalities within the well being system, recognising the necessity for range and inclusion – provides a recent perspective for classroom discussions amongst well being professionals within the city-state. Guinto has additionally been tasked to arrange a brand new Asia-wide community centered on advancing collaboration on healthcare analysis and advocacy.
On World Well being Day, Guinto speaks to Eco-Enterprise and discusses the problems he believes are essential within the planetary well being motion.
Renzo Guinto believes that the world wants an economic system that respects the planet’s boundaries. Picture: Renzo Guinto / LinkedIn
Inform us one message you want to share on World Well being Day.
You can’t totally take pleasure in the best to well being in case you are not capable of take pleasure in the best to a clear and wholesome setting. Given the local weather disaster and the various issues which can be on the nexus of human well being and the setting, I imagine planetary well being is an unavoidable subject. What occurs to the planet impacts us in some ways and we’d like an built-in and holistic method in direction of well being.
For instance, for those who persistently breathe in unhealthy air, your lungs might be affected. Air air pollution remains to be a serious concern in lots of Asian cities. The fitting to meals must also be additional refined to particularly imply the best to wholesome, nutritious, clear, protected and sustainably-produced meals.
An article I lately co-wrote with my colleagues challenges the facility dynamic in meals governance. It discusses the undue affect of transnational companies and political actors in shaping the meals system. There may be close to whole disregard for and neglect of native farming and fishing communities – those that produce our meals – within the conversations we have now round meals. Their lack of energy results in their poor well being. They earn little or no, so little that they often can not buy the meals they produce. It’s an irony, and it isn’t a brand new downside so one thing have to be incorrect. Why haven’t we addressed it?
There are various case research on these farming communities in shiny publications printed by establishments such because the United Nations, however the issue will not be solved. It bothers me so much, and I persistently ask myself: How can I contribute to ending this vicious cycle?
Shoppers are additionally probably not on the desk in the case of decision-making, however we are sometimes fed with unhealthy merchandise that make us sick and are usually not sustainably-produced.
As a result of we’re very busy, many individuals have a tendency to handle solely the fast and micro points, as a result of they are extra manageable. However addressing the collective well being of each the planet and folks requires greater, systematic modifications. Main transformative motion is required to reform our meals and vitality programs.
Why ought to we care about meals programs and their governance?
Through the Covid-19 pandemic, we noticed how a single disruption could make it tough for folks to entry our important wants, together with meals. Within the Philippines, meals help programmes grew to become essential for survival. It made us realise that the federal government and massive companies have the facility and the power to disburse such help.
The local weather disaster is affecting meals programs in many various methods too. However it’s a “gradual burn disaster” and a long run problem. It isn’t just like the pandemic when borders shut in a single day and also you immediately can not get meals, however there’s an affect. How are we making ready for these impacts? We aren’t speaking a lot about it. This wants to vary.
Individuals are additionally beginning to neglect concerning the disruptions throughout Covid-19. Life has moved on and there’s amnesia.
How will we maintain these essential conversations?
There’s a function for the media to maintain on reminding society concerning the urgency of those issues, concerning the want for lasting and sturdy options, and that these options do exist. We already know which options are good for the well being of the planet. Take for instance renewable vitality. We’ve seen larger renewables penetration, photo voltaic is cheaper than earlier than but it surely’s nonetheless not mainstream sufficient.
I additionally suppose the conflict in Gaza has distracted everybody from long run existential threats like local weather change. I’m not saying that the Gaza concern is much less essential. We would like peace there. However due to the continuing conflict, local weather is much less on the agenda. It’s worrying as a result of I imagine we urgently want to vary the worldwide financial system [to tackle the climate crisis]. I’m not an economist however I do know for certain that the system is rotten.
World [health and climate] governance programs should be revised. I do know this sounds utopian however we have to dream huge. That just a few nations could make choices on whether or not one other nation ought to have peace is flawed, flawed and antediluvian. We want an economic system that actually respects the planet’s boundaries. Proper now, six out of 9 planetary boundaries have been transgressed, suggesting that Earth is now nicely exterior of the protected working area for humanity.
The Lancet Fee on Sustainable Healthcare met in particular person for the primary time in Singapore in March 2024. Renzo Guinto (third from left, second row) is a part of the editorial advisory board of the Lancet Planetary Well being journal. Picture: Renzo Guinto / LinkedIn
What must be carried out?
The 17 Sustainable Improvement Objectives (SDGs) and their 169 targets largely now solely deal with the signs of the disaster, however not its causes. Particularly on well being, we have to transcend occupied with the eradication of illnesses however finance all well being and wellbeing wants.
For those who learn the seminal paper on planetary well being [by the Lancet Commission], it identifies three sorts of challenges and the primary problem is the creativeness problem. We’re caught in a field and never really considering out of the field. That’s the reason we find yourself simply specializing in placing out the fires reasonably than discovering the basis trigger of those fires.
I additionally need to suggest the ebook The Good Ancestor by main public thinker Roman Krznaric. It’s a thesis in opposition to brief termism and a name for long run considering or extra exactly, “cathedral considering”. Many cathedrals in Europe are unfinished, and cathedral considering is about considering in a number of generations, reasonably than one lifetime. It’s about imagining initiatives that may outlive you, and that may require later generations to construct on what we have now completed. If we need to reform financial and governance programs, we have to begin someplace now. Serious about planetary well being invitations us to be good ancestors. We don’t need future generations to look again and say we have been dangerous ancestors, that we have been egocentric and made the incorrect choices.
How far do you are taking your educational work on planetary well being and when does it cross into activism?
There may be constructive activism one can have interaction in and that’s once you encourage folks to take part in a motion or to get concerned. Activism is about combating in opposition to highly effective forces and that requires loads of braveness and I’m supportive of it. I simply want we might see extra good outcomes, however in a tough political local weather it could get actually scary. Lives are endangered. For instance, environmental defenders throughout Asia, together with the Philippines, are dealing with threats to their lives. Once we speak about planetary well being, we can not flip a blind eye to the inequalities and injustices which can be nonetheless current immediately.
Eventually 12 months’s COP28 local weather summit, you have been very vocal in calling out for a fossil fuels phase-out. Why is that this concern essential within the planetary well being motion?
Public well being consultants have produced papers and articles displaying the linkage between fossil fuels and the local weather disaster, and we have now been attempting to speak this for years. The hyperlinks may not be intuitive to the layman so we have to talk higher, however the proof is crystal clear. Fossil fuels are dangerous for the well being of the planet and dangerous for folks. There are additionally alternate options which can be more healthy.
A fossil fuels phase-out is a planetary well being resolution and I strongly imagine extra well being professionals needs to be saying that. We’ve tried to say it on the COP28 summit.
COP28 additionally hosted the local weather convention’s first ever well being day and everybody was enthusiastic about it. Out of the 80,000 attendees on the summit, about 2,000 have been well being professionals. It was a giant pressure and an enchancment from the earlier COPs. Somebody was joking about how within the earlier COPs, you possibly can put all of the well being professionals in a single phone sales space.
However on the identical time, at COP28, we have been solely largely speaking with one another. For lack of a greater phrase, I believe there was loads of “inbreeding” of concepts reasonably than cross pollination. We have to do higher when it comes to reaching out to the different sectors to speak about meals and vitality. So my plan on the subsequent COP is to not be on the well being occasions as a result of there we have already got our allies and are preaching to the choir. We have to penetrate the areas the place a few of the most consequential choices are being designed.
We additionally should be cautious of the “healthwashing” at COP. Even dangerous industries or companies supporting and sponsoring coal are pretending to speak about well being now. If you’re solely going to broadly speak about well being and local weather however not backing up what you’re doing, that could be very problematic. We should always not permit well being day at COP to be misused by corporations who simply need to look good.
What else are you going to deal with on the subsequent COP?
We have to monitor progress and maintain governments to account in the case of their health-related commitments. At COP28, greater than 1,000 nations joined a pledge to triple the world’s renewable vitality by 2030. Well being ministers from all over the world endorsed a declaration on local weather and well being. We have to ask on the subsequent COP if governments are starting to put the muses for the institution of a climate-resilient and low-carbon well being system.
There may be additionally the loss and injury fund. The Philippines is lobbying to host the fund. My advocacy round this subject is to ensure that well being is a part of loss and injury. It shouldn’t be nearly infrastructure – buildings, bridges and roads, but additionally about human well being prices. We additionally must push for stronger and extra decisive language for a coal phase-out in order that it’s aligned with planetary well being targets.
“
Serious about planetary well being invitations us to be good ancestors. We don’t need future generations to look again and say we’re dangerous ancestors to them, that we have been egocentric, and made the incorrect choices.
You additionally advocate for decolonising international well being. What does it precisely imply?
The phrase “decolonise” resonates in a different way for various communities. However on the coronary heart of it, it shouldn’t be about beauty modifications. It might be about creating equitable, reciprocal and really collaborative partnerships between the World North and the World South, or between Singapore and a few of the decrease and center revenue nations within the area.
In these collaborations, there can’t be only a unidirectional circulation of data. For instance, Singapore is likely to be shelling out sources as a result of it’s a richer nation however there needs to be co-creation of concepts between Singapore and different Southeast Asian nations, and a recognition that different nations may also contribute meaningfully as a result of additionally they have histories and so they have one thing to deliver to the desk.
Decolonising international well being can also be about dismantling all our biases, for instance that Western concepts are superior to Asian or non-Western ones. Once we obtain these shifts on the cognitive and psychological stages, it could translate to institutional and structural modifications.
Why did you resolve to take up the brand new place and transfer to Singapore?
I don’t see this as a transfer however an enlargement of my work. My work in my dwelling nation continues.
Singapore is a regional hub and it permits me to have better attain, together with on the regional stage. There may be additionally a possibility to do issues a special manner. The institute was clear after they recruited me that they don’t need to reproduce the Western method to international well being. We need to construct an alliance of world well being centres and we need to do it in a extra collaborative manner.
This interview has been edited for readability and brevity.
