Connect
MJA
MJA

The Lancet Countdown down under: tracking progress on health and climate change in Australia

Ying Zhang and Paul J Beggs
Med J Aust 2018; 208 (7): . || doi: 10.5694/mja17.01245
Published online: 16 April 2018

Australia is set to join a global initiative to track progress on health and climate change

When it comes to climate change and human health, Australia has, in many respects, an impressive track record. The late Professor Tony McMichael led the international community in research and advocacy on this issue.1,2 In 2016, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians Climate Change and Health Working Party released position statements on climate change and health and the health benefits of mitigating climate change.3,4 Scientific articles on Australian health and climate change have been published since the mid-1990s, including in the MJA.5


  • 1 University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW
  • 2 Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW


Correspondence: ying.zhang@sydney.edu.au

Acknowledgements: 

We acknowledge the current team members who are developing the Australian countdown report.

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

  • 1. McMichael AJ, Ando M, Carcavallo R, et al. Human population health. In: Watson RT, Zinyowera MC, Moss RH, Dokken DJ, editors. Climate change 1995: impacts, adaptations and mitigation of climate change: scientific-technical analyses. Contribution of Working Group II to the Second Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
  • 2. McMichael A, Githeko A, Akhtar R, et al. Human health. In: McCarthy JJ, Canziani OF, Leary NA, et al, editors. Climate change 2001: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
  • 3. Royal Australasian College of Physicians. Climate change and health: position statement. Sydney: RACP, 2016.
  • 4. Royal Australasian College of Physicians. The health benefits of mitigating climate change: position statement. Sydney: RACP, 2016.
  • 5. Jackson EK. Climate change and global infectious disease threats. Med J Aust 1995; 163: 570-574.
  • 6. Beggs PJ, editor. Impacts of climate change on allergens and allergic diseases. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016.
  • 7. Costello A, Abbas M, Allen A, et al. Managing the health effects of climate change: Lancet and University College London Institute for Global Health Commission. Lancet 2009; 373: 1693-1733.
  • 8. Watts N, Adger WN, Agnolucci P, et al. Health and climate change: policy responses to protect public health. Lancet 2015; 386: 1861-1914.
  • 9. Watts N, Amann M, Ayeb-Karlsson S, et al. The Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: from 25 years of inaction to a global transformation for public health. Lancet 2018; 391: 581-630.
  • 10. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Paris Agreement. http://unfccc.int/paris_agreement/items/9485.php (viewed Dec 2017).
  • 11. International Energy Agency. IEA Atlas of Energy: CO2 Emissions from Fuel Combustion. http://energyatlas.iea.org/#!/tellmap/1378539487/4 (viewed Feb 2018).

Author

remove_circle_outline Delete Author
add_circle_outline Add Author

Comment
Do you have any competing interests to declare? *

I/we agree to assign copyright to the Medical Journal of Australia and agree to the Conditions of publication *
I/we agree to the Terms of use of the Medical Journal of Australia *
Email me when people comment on this article

Online responses are no longer available. Please refer to our instructions for authors page for more information.