Mari Grepstad and Berit Sofie Hembre
The climate change discourse holds that burning of fossil fuels leads to climate change. Therefore, emissions must be reduced in order to avoid climate change. Further, it holds that climate change deteriorates global public health. Acting on climate change is thought to prevent negative health outcomes. Parallel to the discourse of climate change, there is an ongoing discourse on global health. We take the moral imperative to provide all humans with appropriate healthcare, food, housing and other key elements to live long and healthy lives, to be the basis of the global health discourse.
In short, we see two discourses: the climate change discourse, arguing that emissions from fossil fuels must be reduced to protect the health of the people and the planet, and the health (national and global) discourse, which advocates for more resources to healthcare or other goods that contribute to better health outcomes.
In this study, we ask if there is a conflict between the climate change and global public health discourses, and whether it is possible that the negative climate effects of healthcare delivery and appropriate living standards …
Mari Grepstad is an Adviser for the Department for Education and Global Health in the Global Health Section at Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation
Berit Sofie Hembre is an i4C PhD Candidate at the Global Strategy Lab and University of Oslo