The Big Question: Is the healthcare industry doing more harm than good in the climate crisis?

euronews (in English)

If the healthcare industry was a country, it would be the fifth largest polluter on Earth.

Transcript

00:00 Human health impact is becoming the face of climate change.

00:04 Stop the neglect of neglected tropical diseases.

00:07 They very often affect marginalized populations to begin with,

00:11 but we'll see those diseases spreading.

00:14 Welcome to The Big Question, the series from Euronews

00:23 where we answer some of the biggest questions on the world agenda.

00:26 We're here in Davos, Switzerland, at the World Economic Forum.

00:29 And we're joined by Dr. Lukas Hegemann,

00:32 the President of Global Health and Sustainability at Novartis.

00:34 So one of the big topics here at Davos this year is climate change.

00:38 Over the past 20 years, a climate crisis has become more of a crisis and more threatening.

00:41 What health conditions have we seen become more prevalent across the world?

00:44 I think it's fair to say that human health impact is becoming the face of climate change.

00:50 And of course, we see this predominantly in infectious diseases,

00:54 vector-borne diseases that have long been eradicated from certain countries.

00:59 If you take malaria or dengue fever on the rise,

01:02 and there's WHO projection even about the increased number of death cases

01:07 that we'll see as a consequence of global warming.

01:10 But then it's not limited to the infectious diseases,

01:13 but even non-communicable diseases are changing their pattern and increasing in severity.

01:19 For instance, if you look at respiratory disorders as a consequence of air pollution,

01:25 but even psychological conditions as a consequence of stress of noise and exposure.

01:30 So it's quite broad.

01:32 We're seeing a rise in global temperatures.

01:40 What effect does that have on the body and what health complications can that lead to long term?

01:45 Yeah, for instance, dehydration.

01:46 It's a major factor that we see as a direct consequence of warming.

01:50 But I would say the global warming predominantly will manifest itself

01:54 with a rise and a spread of communicable diseases,

01:59 vector-borne diseases that will attack patient populations

02:02 that for many, many years have not lived with a disease like that.

02:06 And that's what we need to address.

02:08 How will they spread more?

02:09 And how is that linked to climate change?

02:11 Yeah, that really has to do with the global warming,

02:13 which opens up new habitats for the mosquitoes, for instance, that carries the disease.

02:18 You see flooding, for instance, stagnant water is an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes.

02:24 As we all know from the summertime and with these changes,

02:28 we see, of course, much more favourable conditions

02:32 for the vectors that carries the disease and then ultimately that leads to the spread.

02:37 Yeah. And so does that include things like neglected tropical diseases?

02:41 And can you explain a little bit more?

02:42 What are they and why do we need to stop neglecting them?

02:45 Neglected tropical diseases is an umbrella term

02:48 of about 20 diseases that are neglected.

02:51 And by that we mean they are not necessarily getting the funding that they need.

02:56 They don't get the attention from researchers.

02:59 They very often affect marginalised populations to begin with.

03:03 And that's sort of what constitutes that neglect.

03:06 But we'll see those diseases spreading.

03:09 So we have to stop the neglect of neglected tropical diseases

03:13 because they will rise in importance.

03:15 But they are also, for the time being, a very important barrier

03:19 to making greater progress in global health.

03:22 And we shouldn't forget that we've made tremendous strides

03:25 in containing disease over the last 20 years or so.

03:29 We have halved childhood mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa.

03:32 HIV/AIDS, when I was still practising as a physician, was a death sentence.

03:37 It's become now a well manageable, almost chronic disease.

03:41 So we shouldn't forget about those great advancements that we've seen.

03:44 But then those are being threatened now by the climate change

03:48 and the consequences that it has, particularly on the infectious diseases.

03:52 Obviously, we've talked about the problems that climate change brings on people's health.

04:03 But also, I think I read an op-ed that you wrote where you talked about,

04:07 you know, the pharmaceutical industry is kind of in a vicious circle of

04:10 you're producing medicines to alleviate the effects of climate change,

04:13 but actually the production of medicine

04:16 also contributes emissions to the climate crisis.

04:19 And how polluting is the pharmaceutical industry?

04:23 Well, the overall healthcare sector

04:25 contributes about 5% to the global greenhouse gas emissions.

04:30 That's not just the pharmaceutical industry, but that's hospitals.

04:33 And hospitals actually are very significant polluter,

04:36 despite the great benefits that we all enjoy when we fall sick.

04:39 But I think we have to make sure that we deliver the positive impact

04:44 that we want to deliver on humanity through our medicines

04:47 in the most climate conscious way.

04:50 And that has led us to adopt climate targets that I would say are fairly ambitious.

04:56 So we have a net zero target by 2040 for waste reduction.

05:01 We have almost reduced our waste volume by more than 50% in just a few years.

05:07 Water quality matters a lot because we need pure water to manufacture high quality medicines.

05:13 We have to look holistically, of course, at what can we do

05:16 to make sure that we deliver our benefit with the minimum impact that we can have.

05:22 That brings me to my final question.

05:31 So if we're looking into the future and maybe 10 years in the future,

05:33 how do you see the future of your work?

05:35 Yeah, I think climate change is certainly one important factor

05:39 that exacerbates certain situations, accelerates certain trends.

05:43 But it's not the only one.

05:44 I mean, if you look at geopolitical instability,

05:47 many of the effects on health that I just cited as a consequence of climate change

05:52 could be potentially triggered by geopolitical changes.

05:56 And so if you think about the refugee situation, about access to health care,

06:00 universal health coverage, strength of primary health systems, all of that.

06:04 If you think about pandemics, I think what's critically important

06:07 is that we build resilient health systems.

06:09 And that's predominantly investing in the primary health care,

06:13 bringing the health care to the patient rather than the patient

06:16 to the health care system.

06:18 I think we need to stay the course on the elimination of diseases of poverty,

06:23 very often infectious diseases, because they just have a negative effect

06:28 on the livelihood of communities.

06:30 And I think it is actually a shame that we haven't made a lot more progress

06:34 despite all the progress that we have made already.

06:37 So I think the global health area will be exciting.

06:40 It will be busy, and it's certainly not becoming any less demanding

06:44 than it was the last 30 years that I was in it.

06:47 [MUSIC PLAYING]

06:51 [MUSIC ENDS]

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