Professional Associations have many basic missions that are included in their statutes and defined by law. Providing legal security for the practice of the profession, self-regulating professional activity or defending its members in case of attack are some of these. But the most important thing is what each of them can contribute to society in general within their professional competence. In the case of the Medical Association, the problem is clear: improving the global health of the population with a broad vision that goes beyond the sum of all the individual actions each doctor takes with his patients.
That’s why we’re talking about public health. Classically, we attribute to this environmental controls such as the supply of drinking water, waste or wastewater, control of the food chain, preventable and emerging diseases or the promotion of preventive measures such as vaccines. But the current concept of public health in human health is broader, as we already know the interrelationships that exist with animal health or environmental health.
We live in an interconnected world without borders; It applies not only to communication, but also to any disease vector or any environmental impact on human health. We experienced a clear example of this with the Covid-19 epidemic. However, other effects of the environment on human health are less well known. For this reason, the task of disseminating and raising awareness about health now needs to be done from a “One Health” perspective.
One Health is an approach to designing and implementing programs, policies, legislation and research in which multiple sectors communicate and work together to achieve better public health outcomes.
Some may think that global health issues may be secondary in the current crisis scenario of the public health system, which has been repeatedly condemned by our school. This is not the case, as the consequences of a wrong prevention approach will negatively affect the continuity of the healthcare system. Prevention is effective; It is already sufficiently proven in terms of clinical activities and therefore we carry out daily tasks such as vaccination, cardiovascular preventive advice or early diagnosis of some cancers. However, although there is solid scientific evidence on this subject, we are not accustomed to evaluating the effects of environmental health on human health.
An example of this is the current problem of antimicrobial resistance associated with the inappropriate use of antibiotics not only in humans but also in agriculture or animal husbandry; These antibiotics create resistance to antibiotics in bacteria that affect us through the food chain or in the environment. that surrounds us. This problem is estimated to cause approximately 4,000 deaths per year in Spain; This number is four times as many as deaths caused by traffic accidents. Concerns on this issue are global and, in coordination with international organisations, a National Plan Against Antibiotic Resistance has been developed in Spain, targeting healthcare professionals in human and veterinary medicine, with the aim of improving antibiotic treatment prescriptions.
Being respectful to the environment is practicing medicine. The Medical Alliance Against Climate Change (AMCC) was initiated by the University Medical Organization of Spain, in which the College of Physicians of Alicante (COMA) has participated since its foundation. We emphasize the need to improve knowledge of the impact of healthcare activities on the environment. Goals achievable for clinical practice are suggested in the consultations, such as replacing pressurized inhalers with others with equal therapeutic efficacy and less environmental impact. We were surprised to learn that a single container of this type is equivalent to the CO2 emissions produced by a car traveling approximately 200 km.
It is necessary to set an example. Thanks to its investment in efficiency energy in the last 5 years, COMA has carried out studies to reduce the CO2 emissions resulting from its own activities by obtaining a carbon footprint calculation and reduction certificate from the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Struggle. The building is the first Faculty of Medicine in Spain to create a Solar Community through the installation of photovoltaic energy panels.
Finally, COMA cooperates with the One Health Platform, a statewide network of an interdisciplinary and intersectoral nature, combining the efforts of national university organizations, associations and foundations, under the auspices of the General Council of the Spanish University Medical Organization. We promote the concept of “one health” by focusing on comprehensive health.