"Planetary health: is human health at risk in the Anthropocene?" with Sir Andrew Haines

Past Event

Date
08 March 2018, 6:00pm - 7:00pm

Location
Lecture Theatre, Oxford Martin School
34 Broad Street (corner of Holywell and Catte Streets), Oxford, OX1 3BD

Adobe Stock Robert treelungs cropped
© Adobestock/Robert

Human health is better now than at any time in history. Thanks to advancements in technology, industry, agriculture and public health, we are living longer and more prosperous lives than ever before. But since the start of the Anthropocene period – the geological epoch marked by humankind’s impact on the planet – unprecedented environmental challenges, such as climate change and biodiversity loss, are threatening our health and the health of our planet. Are we at risk of losing the significant gains we have made in planetary health over the years?

Join in on Twitter with #oxmartintalks

Followed by a drinks reception, all welcome


About the speaker

Sir Andrew Haines is a member of The Rockefeller Foundation Economic Council on Planetary Health at the Oxford Martin School. He was Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) for nearly 10 years until October 2010 and continues to work at LSHTM as Professor of Environmental Change and Public Health. He was previously a Professor of Primary Health Care and Director of the Department of Primary Care and Population Sciences at UCL and formerly Director of Research & Development at the National Health Service (NHS) Executive, North Thames. He has also worked internationally, including in Nepal, Jamaica and the USA. He was knighted for services to medicine in 2005. He has been Chair of the UK Medical Research Council Global Health Group and a member of the MRC Strategy Board and of many other national and international committees. He was formerly a trustee of UK Biobank, the Medical Research Foundation and of the Royal Society of Medicine.

His research interests are in epidemiology and health services research. He has published many articles on primary care research and global health issues, particularly on climate change and health. He was a member of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for the second and third Assessment Reports in 1996 and 2001 and review editor for the health chapter in the report of WG 2 in the fifth assessment exercise. He chaired the Scientific Advisory Panel for the 2013 WHO World Health Report on Research for Universal Health Coverage. He has led a number of Lancet series including chairing the Task Force on Climate Change Mitigation and Public Health, which was supported by a consortium of funding bodies led by the Wellcome Trust to provide estimates of the public health impacts of climate change mitigation strategies in the electricity generation, household energy, transport and food/agriculture sectors which were published in 2009.