Report on the Climate Change Editorial Project

We are happy to provide an update on our project to publish an editorial on health and climate change in multiple journals at the same time. 

The project has been a complete success in terms of the numbers of journals participating – over 260 journals , including more than 50 journals from the African continent and this journal - Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development.

The editorial has been/is being published in Arabic, Croatian, Dutch, English, French, Portuguese and Spanish, and in three WHO journals (the Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal, PAHO's  Pan-American Journal of Public Health, and the WHO Bulletin). 

This was, as we hoped, an unprecedented act of public speech, demonstrating with undeniable clarity that the health sector shared the concern and active resolve to respond effectively to climate change.

Our initiative was picked up by the global media: over 130 news stories were published about the project, in dozens of countries. The estimated potential reach of the news stories already published is an audience of over 800 million people, which is very heartening. The Facebook engagement and Twitter shares were strong, with a measured engagement of 1.7K and a potential reach of almost 300 million. We are advised that this translates into an advertising value of almost $8 million (see the attached coverage report). As such, the return on investment of the exercise is astronomical. 

A key finding of this project is that climate change is of concern in all areas of health – from dermatology to veterinary health, palliative care to diabetes, nursing  to psychiatry. In fact, the wide spread of disciplines and health professions represented by the journals supporting the project suggests it would be worth following up with a compilation of short reflections as to what climate change means to different parts of the health sector. We have proposed such a publication to the World Health Organization and may be in touch with you again to invite you to share your views on the specific impact of climate change in your area of interest.

On behalf of the team at the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change*, thank you for your participation in this project. We look forward to future contacts.

List of participating journals: https://www.bmj.com/content/full-list-authors-and-signatories-climate-emergency-editorial-october-2022

Chris

Chris Zielinski

On behalf of the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change

Centre for Global Health, University of Winchester, UK  and

Vice President, World Association of Medical Editors (WAME)

Blogs; http://ziggytheblue.wordpress.com and http://ziggytheblue.tumblr.com
Publications: http://www.researchgate.net and https://winchester.academia.edu/ChrisZielinski/