Climate and Health Alliance

Highlighting the links between climate and health

The Climate and Health Alliance (CAHA) is a coalition of healthcare stakeholders who work together to see the threat to human health from climate change and ecological degradation addressed through prompt policy action. The membership of CAHA includes organisations and individuals from across the health sector, with organisations representing healthcare professionals from medicine, nursing, public health, social work and psychology, as well as healthcare service providers, research and academic institutions, and health consumers.

Issue

The Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated the potential for public health emergencies to cause dramatic disruption. It followed the unprecedented bushfires and dangerous smoke pollution that made the links between climate change and people’s health starkly obvious. Both of these events revealed the increasing vulnerability of the Australian community and our health system – unless we take action.

Response

Covid-19 has also highlighted the critical role of the health and medical professionals in preparing us for and responding to these crises. The Impact Fund supported CAHA at the start of the pandemic as it worked to seize an opportunity to highlight the intensifying climate crisis, which is increasingly taking lives and harming people’s health.

CAHA is continuing on its mission to build a powerful health sector movement for climate action and sustainable healthcare.