More hospital beds not the answer - sustainability

More hospital beds not the answer, but sustainable development might be

A leading international health expert says the movements for environmental sustainability and health equity need to merge.

“The health equity and sustainable development agendas are closely connected. They are both “upstream” ways of looking at how to achieve and maintain a healthy environment, or population, rather than focusing on how to fix them once things go wrong,” Professor Fran Baum, of South Australia’s Flinders University, told the Public Health Association conference at Turangawaewae Marae today.

“The health of the environment and its people are also interconnected. If the environment has been made sick in some way, then it follows our health will also be affected.”

Professor Baum, who is the Head of the Southgate Institute for Health, Society and Equity, used the example of how the drought in Australia, combined with rapacious taking of river waters by agriculture has affected the populations who live in and rely on the Murray-Darling basin for their health and livelihood.

“The drought has worsened the effect of virtually unfettered demand for irrigation to the point where the Darling River has dried up and the Murray limps along, a mere shadow of what it once was. This has had a huge impact on the mental health of people living in the basin.

“The suicide rate among farmers has risen in recent years. Towns have de-populated as young people have moved away and that has demoralised those who are left. And the traditional owners of the land, the Ngarrindjeri people, are anguished that they have no control over their own land and little power to nurse it back from catastrophic damage.”
Professor Baum said sustainable development embraces environmental, social and economic dimensions and underpins health-enhancing communities and environments.

“Health enhancing communities put the wellbeing of all citizens, strong and vulnerable, rich and poor, at the centre of every decision about developing a resource. And when that happens, the need to build more and bigger hospitals and spend on expensive medical treatment fades away.

“'Downstream' solutions to health problems like supplying more hospital beds cost more and do nothing for the inequality in health status between different populations.

“It’s time for those who advocate for sustainable development and those who advocate for equality in health between population groups to join forces to convince politicians to take action, Professor Baum says.

Find out more about the Public Health Association conference and view the programme at the conference website.

ENDS

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