What is planetary health?
Human, environmental, and animal health are all interrelated. They impact one another and share common challenges. The manifestation of symptoms of a problem in one area can reveal undiagnosed problems with another.
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Planetary health is an emerging field that examines questions at the nexus of these domains.
While specialized study in each of these subjects is critical to gaining an in-depth understanding of their unique features, a comprehensive assessment is required to uncover and analyze the root causes of issues that extend beyond the realm of each individual area of expertise. This transversal approach builds upon the work that has been done in each domain and contributes to a greater understanding of universal problems and solutions that impact human, environmental, and animal health through their interconnected links.
What is the Planetary Health Initiative?
The Planetary Health Initiative is a curated resource exchange for planetary health issues. It is a focal point for discussion on planetary health topics and exploring new perspectives by highlighting and analyzing the latest scholarly and journalistic efforts covering human health, the environmental, and the natural systems with which humans interact. It focuses on quality insights and content that is unique and original, not AI generated or reposted from other sources.
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The concept of planetary health is simple, but the interactions are complex. Thus, the Planetary Health Initiative has a particular interest expanding the existing knowledge base and pushing the boundaries of conventional understanding. It takes an approach that is both critical and reflective to explore perceptions of planetary health concepts.
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The Planetary Health Initiative seeks to be a platform for further discovery and innovation by providing the dots to be connected that illustrate the bigger picture.
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About the curator
Mark Anderson is an engineer with a decade of experience working in humanitarian health worldwide. He holds an MSc in Humanitarian Practice from the University of Manchester’s Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute and has studied at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
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His area of focus is climate change and health, and the impacts of environmental disruption on disaster risk reduction and geopolitics. His dissertation produced original research on the impacts of hazardous waste production during health interventions in resource-limited environments, and his work has been published by Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders.
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He operates a planetary health consulting firm, Santerre International. For more information on Santerre’s services, please visit santerreinternational.com.