One Health and Climate Change Course

Introduction to the Course

How does climate change impact the health of humans, animals, and the environment?

As the “biggest health threat facing humanity,” climate change is already changing people’s lives, as well as animal habitats and environments. In different countries and regions of the planet, surging health problems pose challenges to health care providers, policy makers, and governance. Such health challenges are inextricably linked to the decay of natural habitats and frequent occurrence of catastrophic weather events, the emergence of new pathogens and infectious diseases, and hardships caused by environmental problems, such as heat exposure, respiratory problems, malnutrition and mental health issues. These problems are already affecting most global populations and will continue to do so in the future, calling for holistic forms of mitigation, control, and prevention on local, regional and global levels.

How can the One Health approach contribute to mitigating and preventing the health impacts of climate change?

The present course will introduce you to the connections between climate change and health. The content material provides a framework to understand the basic mechanisms of climate change and the extent of its impacts on human and animal health, identifying the connection between planetary challenges and local threats. Role-playing exercises encourage the practice of thinking systemically, adopting holistic perspectives, and working with creativity and collaboration to find immediate and long-term solutions.

Content, schedule and requirements

The One Health and Climate Change course consists of a blended learning system, including synchronous and asynchronous units. In the asynchronous sessions, the participants will be led through the basic mechanisms of climate change, and the consequent health impacts on different environments, as well as the theoretical framework of the One Health approach through self-study with interactive elements on the Moodle-platform. Participants will also see illustrative examples of how One Health can contribute to climate change solutions.

During the synchronous sessions, participants will meet online via ‘Zoom’ and work together to solve a climate change-related health problem using the One Health approach. The main course assignment is designed as a game in which participants take part in role-playing activities to reflect on different levels of impact, responsibility, and engagement, to then propose unique and adequate solutions to the given problem. This learning format offers students the opportunity to think in a holistic and innovative way, encouraging the development of specificity and creativity necessary to deal with the challenges of climate change.

Learning objectives

At the end of the module, the participants will be able to:

• understand the basic mechanisms of climate change and its environmental impacts on the planet;
• understand the One Health approach, its definitions, history, and current discourses;
• understand the relationships between climate change and global health problems and explain the dimensions of impacts on human, animal, and environmental health systems;
• develop One Health solutions to climate change-related health problems and plan their implementation.

Target group Students and docents of bachelor, Master and PhD programmes or equivalent (e.g. completed preliminary examination) in human health (human medicine, nursing, public health, epidemiology), animal health (veterinary medicine, agricultural studies), environmental studies (ecology, wildlife studies, sustainability), and social studies (anthropology, economics, geography, sociology).

Concept Blended Learning (Moodle, Zoom)

Duration Approximately 10 weeks from 22nd January

Credits ECTS 3 ECTS (90 hours) – needs to be approved by your home institution

Language English and Spanish

Please find more information in the One Health and Climate Change in the video below:

This activity is part of WP2.