Climate Change & Sustainable Eye Care
The last week has seen world leaders and changemakers from around the world gather in Sharm-El Sheik in Egypt at the annual Conference of the Parties event (COP27). This year, the goal is to build upon what has been discussed and implemented at the conference since its genesis in Rio in 1992.
Global Unison
Enhancing collaboration is a large focus this year. The facilitation of agreements and negotiations is being held to a high standard to achieve well-established and balanced results. The aim to turn the 2021 Glasgow conference outcome into action is imminent and can only be achieved with active participation from all states.
A portion of the conference has also been dedicated to the support of vulnerable nations. It has been claimed many times that many of the world’s poorest countries suffer the worst consequences of climate change. The worsening conditions of many African nations are due to the impact of climate change and the lack of support from other stakeholders is to be challenged at the conference.
Eyecare
This brings me to eye care. The world’s poorest countries are directly and negatively affected by climate change – meaning their healthcare systems are too. If the past few years have shown us anything, it is that global public health and environmental health are extremely intertwined.
As a species, we rely on the planet on which we live. We also rely upon infrastructure; such as healthcare, shelter and safety. Take that away and what are we left with? The climate and the environment have a heavy impact on our well-being as well as healthcare systems. A suffering environment means a suffering system – which is becoming more and more obvious every day.
Un/Natural Disasters
This past year has unleashed some of the most unprecedented natural challenges in recent history. Climate news has been overly grim this year. From the extreme floods in Pakistan to the drought in East Africa, the climate promises are yet to become a reality.
The floods in Pakistan are said to have taken nearly 2000 lives while displacing 7.9 million people. The severe damage to infrastructure, including homes, roads and bridges, is estimated to cost around $30 billion. Besides the cost, flood water, which is predicted to take 6 months to pass, is flowing throughout people’s homes and the streets. This has caused diseases to spread much more rapidly. The people of Pakistan, already subjected to socio-economic distress, now have a second wave of disaster and disease without any sustainable methods of relief.
Healthcare’s Carbon Footprint
Whilst global healthcare is a necessity, it is also one of the largest consumers of resources and releases a significant amount of greenhouse gases. Overall, healthcare is responsible for 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions which equates to 4.4 per cent of all global net greenhouse gas emissions.
A lot of this is due to waste management in healthcare. Whilst most (85%) of healthcare-related waste is non-hazardous, the way in which it is disposed of still has a major effect on the environment – eg. non-contaminated plastic used in hospitals has a dire effect if not recycled properly.
It seems as if many issues can often trump solutions. For example, investing in healthcare can boost a country’s economy, however, more waste is produced which negatively impacts the environment and socio-economic activity. With this in mind, it is hard to know where to go next.
NGOs creating sustainable methods
There are several non-governmental organisations worldwide that are having a positive impact on socio-economic activity and the environment. One prime example is a factory set up by my co-founder of the Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation, ‘God of sight’, Dr Sanduk Ruit. Dr Ruit set up and founded a factory in Nepal that produces intraocular lenses for significantly less money compared to any other country. Normally costing over $100, this Nepalese factory produces a lens for less than $5.
Not so long ago, the Lancet Global Health Commission on Global Eye Health report stated that the environmental cost of delivering high-quality cataract surgery in different regulatory settings was vastly different in the UK compared to India. It was found that the UK hospital produced 20 times the amount of greenhouse gases in comparison to the Indian hospital. Both surgeries led to excellent results with no complications, showing that clinical procedures in high-income nations can be more wasteful and are unable to show demonstrable evidence of the method having better results.
It can be argued that improvements in healthcare systems will ultimately lead to a much more economically productive country. As we have proven before, curing blindness impacts economic productivity significantly during the first postoperative year. (The Lancet, 2017).
As mentioned above, healthcare is responsible for a significant portion of greenhouse gas emissions. Unfortunately, eyecare is expected to have a major impact on this. With ageing populations comes a higher prevalence of blindness meaning much more intervention is required across the globe. However, the idea of healthcare improving a nation’s economy and an improved economy leads to a more ecologically conscious society means that, with time, this is one of the best, and only, solutions we have.