Sustainable Food Systems in Undergraduate Education

“…health professionals need to become well informed about the dangers posed by global environmental change to the health of those they serve and the potential for health co-benefits from policies to prevent damage to natural systems.”

Lancet commission on planetary health 2015

While most undergraduate clinical training includes some curricula about diet, nutrition and climate change, there are little (if any) curricula that explain the inter-connections between food production, land use, climate change and health; and how this relates to the role and responsibilities of health professionals.

Aspirations to produce health graduates who will embed their future clinical work within a social, ethical, ecological and global framework, provide an opportunity to develop new curricula about food systems and environmental degradation on the back of those that currently exist around nutrition, diet and public health.

Medact is working with  Sustainable Healthcare Education Network  hosted by the Centre for Sustainable Health Care to promote new undergraduate curricula for a total of six purposively selected training courses across medicine, nursing and dietetics in the UK.