The environmental footprint of health care: a global assessment

TLDR

Let's parse content. Background sentences: two lines. Summarize: health-care services necessary but have environmental footprint contributing to threats to human health; previous studies quantified carbon emissions globally. Purpose, Mechanism line: "We aimed to provide a global assessment of the wide-ranging environmental impacts of this sector. MethodsIn this multiregional input-output analysis, we evaluated the contribution of health-care sectors in driving environmental damage that in turn puts human health at risk." So Purpose: aim to provide global assessment of environmental impacts.

Abstract

BackgroundHealth-care services are necessary for sustaining and improving human wellbeing, yet they have an environmental footprint that contributes to environment-related threats to human health. Previous studies have quantified the carbon emissions resulting from health care at a global level. We aimed to provide a global assessment of the wide-ranging environmental impacts of this sector.MethodsIn this multiregional input-output analysis, we evaluated the contribution of health-care sectors in driving environmental damage that in turn puts human health at risk. Using a global supply-chain database containing detailed information on health-care sectors, we quantified the direct and indirect supply-chain environmental damage driven by the demand for health care. We focused on seven environmental stressors with known adverse feedback cycles: greenhouse gas emissions, particulate matter, air pollutants (nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide), malaria risk, reactive nitrogen in water, and scarce water use.FindingsHealth care causes global environmental impacts that, depending on which indicator is considered, range between 1% and 5% of total global impacts, and are more than 5% for some national impacts.InterpretationEnhancing health-care expenditure to mitigate negative health effects of environmental damage is often promoted by health-care practitioners. However, global supply chains that feed into the enhanced activity of health-care sectors in turn initiate adverse feedback cycles by increasing the environmental impact of health care, thus counteracting the mission of health care.FundingAustralian Research Council, National eResearch Collaboration Tools and Resources project.