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Volume 5, Issue 2 (Suppl)
Occup Med Health Aff, an open access journal
ISSN: 2329-6879
Environmental Health 2017
September 7-8, 2017
September 7-8, 2017 | Paris, France
Environmental Health & Global Climate Change
2
nd
International Conference on
GREENLEADERSHIPINHEALTHCARE–HOWHEALTHCAREPROVIDERSCANMITIGATE
CLIMATE CHANGE AND REDUCE THEIR CARBON FOOTPRINT
Edda Weimann
a,b
a
Groote Schuur Hospital, South Africa
b
University of Cape Town, South Africa
T
he healthcare sector itself contributes to climate change, the creation of hazardous waste, use of toxic metals such as
mercury, and water and air pollution. To mitigate the effect of healthcare provision on the deteriorating environment
and avoid creating further challenges for already burdened health systems, Global Green Hospitals was formed as a global
network. Groote Schuur Hospital (GSH), as the leading academic hospital in Africa, joined the network in 2014. Since then,
several projects have been initiated to reduce the amount of general waste, energy consumption and food waste, and create an
environmentally friendlier and more sustainable hospital in a resource constrained public healthcare setting. Various efforts
have been made to reduce the carbon footprint of GSH and reduce waste and hazardous substances such as mercury and
polystyrene. The hospital was able to halve the amount of coal and water used, increase recycling by 50% over 6 months, replace
polystyrene cups and packaging with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) recyclable paper-based products, reduce the effect of
food wastage by making use of local farmers, and implement measures to reduce the amount of expired pharmaceutical drugs.
In addition, the intensive care units in the hospital are now also participating in the recycling initiative to reduce the amount
of hazardous waste and waste costs. To improve commitment from all involved role-players, political leadership, supportive
government policies and financial funding is mandatory, or public hospitals will be unable to tackle the exponentially increasing
costs related to climate change and its effects on healthcare.
Occup Med Health Aff 2017, 5:2(Suppl)
DOI: 10.4172/2329-6879-C1-032