What is Planetary Health?

The commonly accepted definition comes from the Rockefeller Foundation – Lancet Commission on Planetary Health in 2015.

The achievement of the highest attainable standard of health, wellbeing, and equity worldwide through judicious attention to the human systems—political, economic, and social—that shape the future of humanity and the Earth’s natural systems that define the safe environmental limits within which humanity can flourish. Put simply, planetary health is the health of human civilisation and the state of the natural systems on which it depends.

Planetary Health is the recognition of the interconnection between the health of our patients, and the health of the environment. It is not about putting one thing before the other, but taking a more inclusive view of our responsibilities as health care providers, and by doing so, achieving better outcomes both in specific health care outcomes, and broader measurements of wellbeing.