Ep 28: Lotta Velin and Lina Roa

Global Scalpels: A Global Surgery Podcast

“Climate change is the single greatest threat to planetary and human health of our time. It is not a distant future concern, but a process that is occurring here and now.” - Roa L, Velin L, et al.

Climate change is a huge idea. It stems from the accumulation of greenhouse gases due to human consumptive practices that results in environmental changes. Some of these changes have drastic changes not only on our planet but also on health. Increasing global temperature have “resulted in approximately 125 million more people who have health issues related to heat, such as dehydration, heatstroke, and cardiovascular disease, in 2016 compared with in 2000.” Rising sea levels has led to increased flooding and other natural disasters thus leading to heightened need for trauma care and economic ruin and resulting poverty. Further, pollution plagues the air of many cities globally that may cause respiratory effects that rival that of smoking.

While increasing access to surgical services worldwide is vital to human life, doing so in a environmentally friendly manner is essential to sustainable scaling and longitudinal growth. Join us in this earth shattering episode as we discuss with Dr Roa and Dr Velin about their recent paper in the Lancet and how to use solutions from all six building blocks to be advocates for a two-way relationship between surgery and climate change. You won’t want to miss this!