Medical students want climate change on the syllabus

Norwegian medical students are calling for more classes on how climate change affects health.

Both the Norwegian Medical Students’ Association and the Norwegian Medical Association now encourage medical faculties to give an introduction to how climate and health are linked, writes Dagens Medisin.

– “One of the first things we should do in Norway is declare that the climate crisis is a health crisis. We need even more transparency and clarification that climate change is already affecting Norwegians ‘health – and that this will only continue in the years to come,” says public health officer Ola Løkken Nordrum of the Norwegian Medical Students’ Association.

He believes it is important to spread knowledge about how climate change affects public health.

Nordrum points to the fact that heatwaves and extreme weather can aggravate existing disease symptoms, temperature increases can affect ticks migration and high levels of air pollution will lead to lung, heart and vascular diseases.

Several medical institutes in the United States have already included climate on the syllabus, at the request of the students.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today