Session (CTI)

ISSUE: Climate change has the potential to disrupt our pursuit of whole health via multiple dimensions. It threatens to undo decades of progress in health and healthcare through adverse impacts on food and water security, frequency of extreme weather events, air quality, mental health, and communicable diseases. This highlights the direct impact of the environment on our health; it is a critical social determinant of health and component of whole health. As a result of these environmental impacts, health care needs will increase with climate change, further intensifying financial and capacity pressures on healthcare systems. This highlights the impact of environmental factors on healthcare, another pilar of whole health. Given emissions from healthcare systems contribute heavily to climate change and thus impact our pursuit of whole health, several questions must be explored: is there a role for considering environmental impacts within the concept of whole health? If so, how could and should this be operationalised (including, do we need to update the ISPOR value flower?)? What other changes would this mean for health economics and outcomes research? What are the potential unintended consequences?The objectives of the panel are to debate the inclusion of environmental impact in whole health and in value assessment, explore new ways of calculating and presenting the environmental and economic impact of new health technologies, and to discuss if and how these new results should be considered by healthcare decision makers internationally. OVERVIEW: Following a brief introduction to the issues by the moderator (Grace Hampson, Associate Director, Office of Health Economics, UK) (4 mins), the panel will debate the questions above. Panellists will each speak for 12 minutes, providing their perspectives on whether and how environmental impact data could be beneficial in our pursuit of whole health. 20 minutes will be reserved for audience discussion.