Insight into the Environmental Health Consciousness of Medical Students Regarding the Perceived Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health
Climate change represents an unprecedented global public health crisis with extensive and profound implications. The Lancet Commission identified it as the foremost health challenge of the 21st century. In 2015, air pollution alone caused approximately 9 million premature deaths worldwide. Climate c...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Environmental Health Insights |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/11786302241310031 |
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| author | Yumna Shariff Muneeba Mushtaq Syed Muhammad Abdullah Shah Hurais Malik Muhammad Abdullah Muhammad Usama Jamil Abdul Rehman Muhammad Hudaib Manahil Ahmad Umais Ahad Sanila Mughal Mohammed Mahmmoud Fadelallah Eljack |
| author_facet | Yumna Shariff Muneeba Mushtaq Syed Muhammad Abdullah Shah Hurais Malik Muhammad Abdullah Muhammad Usama Jamil Abdul Rehman Muhammad Hudaib Manahil Ahmad Umais Ahad Sanila Mughal Mohammed Mahmmoud Fadelallah Eljack |
| author_sort | Yumna Shariff |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Climate change represents an unprecedented global public health crisis with extensive and profound implications. The Lancet Commission identified it as the foremost health challenge of the 21st century. In 2015, air pollution alone caused approximately 9 million premature deaths worldwide. Climate change also exacerbates extreme weather events, displacement, mental health disorders, disease vectors, food insecurity, and malnutrition, particularly impacting vulnerable developing countries like Pakistan due to its agricultural reliance, diverse topography, and limited resources. This study assesses Pakistani medical students’ perceptions of climate change’s health impacts. Conducted in February 2024, a cross-sectional survey of 632 students using a standardized questionnaire was employed via online Google Forms. The questionnaire was validated and an Exploratory Factor Analysis identified seven subscales of environmental health consciousness. The mean participant age was 21.17 years, with a balanced gender distribution. Students showed high environmental health consciousness (Mean = 35.6, SD = 5.2), with 88% attributing climate change to human activities and 89.1% anticipating serious future health impacts. Significant concerns included air quality-related illness (91%), water-availability illness (86%), healthcare disruption (85%), cold-related illness (83%), and flooding-related displacement (87%). Psychological impacts were acknowledged by 68%. Household income, age, and gender were significant predictors. These results highlight the need for integrating climate change and health education into medical curricula to prepare future healthcare providers. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-95a050ece18c4da794006fe610c01c02 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1178-6302 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Health Insights |
| spelling | doaj-art-95a050ece18c4da794006fe610c01c022025-08-20T02:39:26ZengSAGE PublishingEnvironmental Health Insights1178-63022024-12-011810.1177/11786302241310031Insight into the Environmental Health Consciousness of Medical Students Regarding the Perceived Impacts of Climate Change on Human HealthYumna Shariff0Muneeba Mushtaq1Syed Muhammad Abdullah Shah2Hurais Malik3Muhammad Abdullah4Muhammad Usama Jamil5Abdul Rehman6Muhammad Hudaib7 Manahil8Ahmad Umais Ahad9Sanila Mughal10Mohammed Mahmmoud Fadelallah Eljack11Bahria University Medical and Dental College, Karachi, PakistanFazaia Ruth Pfau Medical College, Karachi, PakistanFazaia Ruth Pfau Medical College, Karachi, PakistanFazaia Ruth Pfau Medical College, Karachi, PakistanCMH Lahore Medical College and Institute of Dentistry, Lahore, PakistanNishtar Medical University, Multan, PakistanFazaia Ruth Pfau Medical College, Karachi, PakistanFazaia Ruth Pfau Medical College, Karachi, PakistanPakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad, PakistanPakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad, PakistanDow Medical College, Karachi, PakistanFaculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Bakht Alruda, Ad Duwaym, SudanClimate change represents an unprecedented global public health crisis with extensive and profound implications. The Lancet Commission identified it as the foremost health challenge of the 21st century. In 2015, air pollution alone caused approximately 9 million premature deaths worldwide. Climate change also exacerbates extreme weather events, displacement, mental health disorders, disease vectors, food insecurity, and malnutrition, particularly impacting vulnerable developing countries like Pakistan due to its agricultural reliance, diverse topography, and limited resources. This study assesses Pakistani medical students’ perceptions of climate change’s health impacts. Conducted in February 2024, a cross-sectional survey of 632 students using a standardized questionnaire was employed via online Google Forms. The questionnaire was validated and an Exploratory Factor Analysis identified seven subscales of environmental health consciousness. The mean participant age was 21.17 years, with a balanced gender distribution. Students showed high environmental health consciousness (Mean = 35.6, SD = 5.2), with 88% attributing climate change to human activities and 89.1% anticipating serious future health impacts. Significant concerns included air quality-related illness (91%), water-availability illness (86%), healthcare disruption (85%), cold-related illness (83%), and flooding-related displacement (87%). Psychological impacts were acknowledged by 68%. Household income, age, and gender were significant predictors. These results highlight the need for integrating climate change and health education into medical curricula to prepare future healthcare providers.https://doi.org/10.1177/11786302241310031 |
| spellingShingle | Yumna Shariff Muneeba Mushtaq Syed Muhammad Abdullah Shah Hurais Malik Muhammad Abdullah Muhammad Usama Jamil Abdul Rehman Muhammad Hudaib Manahil Ahmad Umais Ahad Sanila Mughal Mohammed Mahmmoud Fadelallah Eljack Insight into the Environmental Health Consciousness of Medical Students Regarding the Perceived Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health Environmental Health Insights |
| title | Insight into the Environmental Health Consciousness of Medical Students Regarding the Perceived Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health |
| title_full | Insight into the Environmental Health Consciousness of Medical Students Regarding the Perceived Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health |
| title_fullStr | Insight into the Environmental Health Consciousness of Medical Students Regarding the Perceived Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health |
| title_full_unstemmed | Insight into the Environmental Health Consciousness of Medical Students Regarding the Perceived Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health |
| title_short | Insight into the Environmental Health Consciousness of Medical Students Regarding the Perceived Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health |
| title_sort | insight into the environmental health consciousness of medical students regarding the perceived impacts of climate change on human health |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/11786302241310031 |
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