The Planetary Health thinking, scientific models, and its academic, practice and policy community has rapidly developed over the last years. The concept builds on respecting the nine ecological planetary boundaries within which humanity can continue to develop and thrive for generations to come. This requires health actors and researchers to study how health is impacted by overshooting these boundaries, as well as seeking options on how the health sector can contribute to preventing, preparing and responding to overshooting these boundaries.
In this seminar, the planetary health paradigm will be unpacked by inquiring the actors, drivers, finance and proposed scientific and policy solutions. Can planetary health escape a technocratic tunnel vision on climate and health adaptation and is it able to contribute to contextualised, participatory policy actions that improve health equity? Does planetary health research engage with the structural and commercial determinants of health that are contributing to historic, health and climate injustices? The case will be made that the planetary health community needs to engage with post-growth economic principles and related policy approaches to contribute to transformative change and inclusive wellbeing.
About the speaker
Dr. Remco van de Pas is a public health doctor and a global health researcher. He has a position as senior research associate at the Centre for Planetary Health Policy in Berlin and is a lecturer in global health at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp. His teaching and research focus on planetary and global health governance, its political-economy and foreign policy with a special attention on health workforce development, health system strengthening, social protection, workforce employment, care economies, the socio-ecological determinants of health, public health functions, globalisation and its impact on equity.
Remco is a visiting research fellow at Clingendael, Netherlands Institute of International Relations and at Maastricht University. He is an editorial board member of the academic journal Globalization and Health and a member of The Collective for the Political Determinants of Health. He is active in the People’s Health Movement, a global civil society network.
About this seminar series
“Global Health Unpacked” is a seminar series that aims to bring together the global health community on a regular basis to critically discuss key debates in Global Health in informal and interactive seminars. Guest speakers (both from the University of Oslo and from other universities) will bring an original perspective to the topic and engage in a conversation with the audience.
With this seminar, we also hope to facilitate exchanges and collaborations between global health researchers and students present in Oslo and foster interdisciplinary research. “Global Health Unpacked” is jointly organized by the research group Global Health Politics, Centre for Development and the Environment and the UiO Centre for Global Health.