Planetary Health: What is it and does it matter?

Remarkable advances in human health through new vaccines, drug treatments and surgical procedures have been made in recent decades, but at a cost to our planet. To achieve these health gains, natural systems have been exploited at an unprecedented scale. Pollution, biodiversity loss and climate change are affecting the health of our rivers, oceans and ecosystems. Join Tony as he canvasses the relationships between the health of the natural world and the health of people. It’s not all bad news of course because solutions do lie within reach, we just need to embrace new possibilities.

Bio

Tony Capon, the world’s first professor of planetary health knows a thing or two about health and wellbeing in the changing environment. Born on a farm in Otago, New Zealand, and originally trained as a medical doctor in Queensland, his research on the links between the environment and human health has taken him from scooping dog poo off suburban streets in Brisbane, to re-thinking slum health in Africa and South Asia.