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. 2020 Feb;111(1):60-64.
doi: 10.17269/s41997-019-00263-8. Epub 2019 Dec 2.

Preparing for the future of public health: ecological determinants of health and the call for an eco-social approach to public health education

Margot W Parkes  1   2 , Blake Poland  3   4 , Sandra Allison  3   5   6   7 , Donald C Cole  3   4 , Ian Culbert  3   8 , Maya K Gislason  3   9 , Trevor Hancock  3   10 , Courtney Howard  3   11 , Andrew Papadopoulos  3   12 , Faiza Waheed  3   13
Affiliations

Preparing for the future of public health: ecological determinants of health and the call for an eco-social approach to public health education

Margot W Parkes et al. Can J Public Health. 2020 Feb.

Abstract
in English, French

As a collective organized to address the education implications of calls for public health engagement on the ecological determinants of health, we, the Ecological Determinants Group on Education (cpha.ca/EDGE), urge the health community to properly understand and address the importance of the ecological determinants of the public's health, consistent with long-standing calls from many quarters-including Indigenous communities-and as part of an eco-social approach to public health education, research and practice. Educational approaches will determine how well we will be equipped to understand and respond to the rapid changes occurring for the living systems on which all life-including human life-depends. We revisit findings from the Canadian Public Health Association's discussion paper on 'Global Change and Public Health: Addressing the Ecological Determinants of Health', and argue that an intentionally eco-social approach to education is needed to better support the health sector's role in protecting and promoting health, preventing disease and injury, and reducing health inequities. We call for a proactive approach, ensuring that the ecological determinants of health become integral to public health education, practice, policy, and research, as a key part of wider societal shifts required to foster a healthy, just, and ecologically sustainable future.

Notre collectif, appelé Ecological Determinants Group on Education (cpha.ca/EDGE), s’est structuré pour aborder les incidences pédagogiques des appels à la mobilisation de la santé publique autour des déterminants écologiques de la santé; nous exhortons les milieux de la santé à bien comprendre l’importance des déterminants écologiques de la santé publique et à en tenir compte, faisant ainsi écho aux appels de longue date de nombreux acteurs – dont les communautés autochtones – le tout dans le cadre d’une approche écosociale de la formation, de la recherche et de la pratique en santé publique. Les approches pédagogiques détermineront si nous serons en mesure de comprendre les changements rapides qui se produisent dans les systèmes vivants dont dépend toute vie – y compris la vie humaine – et d’y réagir. Nous revenons sur les constatations du document de travail de l’Association canadienne de santé publique intitulé Les changements globaux et la santé publique : Qu’en est-il des déterminants écologiques de la santé?, et nous faisons valoir qu’une approche intentionnellement écosociale de la formation est nécessaire pour mieux appuyer le rôle du secteur de la santé dans la protection et la promotion de la santé, la prévention des maladies et des blessures et la réduction des inégalités en santé. Nous réclamons une démarche en amont pour que les déterminants écologiques de la santé fassent partie intégrale de la formation, de la pratique, des politiques et de la recherche en santé publique, car ces déterminants seront un élément essentiel des grands mouvements sociétaux nécessaires pour favoriser un avenir sain, juste et écologiquement durable.

Keywords: Eco-social approaches; Ecological determinants of health; Ecosystem approaches to health; Planetary health; Professional development; Public health education; Social determinants of health.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

References

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