Our Planet, Our Health
World Health Day was Thursday, April 7th. This is a global health awareness day sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO). Each year this organization has a unique issue it addresses, with the 2022 theme being ‘our planet, our health’. WHO has estimated that over 13 million deaths worldwide are “due to avoidable environmental causes” and that the climate crisis is the “single biggest threat facing humanity”. Extreme weather events are displacing people from their homes and deteriorating their health. WHO states we need to create “sustainable well-being societies” that are committed to providing a healthy environment for us and future generations.
How telemedicine helps to reduce our carbon footprint
The goal of this awareness day is to educate the population on the severity of our actions and how we are harming the Earth at an alarming rate through the burning of fossil fuels. The healthcare sector plays a major role in its contribution to the planet\’s destruction through carbon emissions by traveling to and from hospitals/clinics. Telehealth has helped to offset these carbon emissions as seen in a research study conducted in Sweden. They found a 40-70 times decrease in carbon emissions from telehealth in comparison to in-person visits. Telemedicine becomes the greener choice when the hospital or clinic is more than a few kilometers away. With this vastly lower amount of greenhouse gasses we are emitting, telehealth is a direct method to help save our home.
Porton Health’s role in saving the planet
Porton Health contributes to the reduction of our carbon footprint by offering telehealth applications to eliminate the need to travel to appointments. Our BookApp allows you to book your appointment virtually and will work in unison with our upcoming MeetApp to provide an online meeting platform to be seen by a provider. By providing these applications, we are helping those in rural communities significantly lower their carbon emissions. We will keep helping our planet as a source of inspiration to ensure we are playing our part.
To learn more about our apps, email us at connect@portonhealth.com.
References:
Holmner, Å., Ebi, K. L., Lazuardi, L., & Nilsson, M. (2014). Carbon footprint of telemedicine solutions – unexplored opportunity for reducing carbon emissions in the health sector. PLoS ONE, 9(9). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0105040
World Health Day 2022. World Health Organization. Retrieved April 7, 2022, from https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-health-day/2022
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