Editorial from Africa seen by 800 million people

Before COP27, we coordinated the publication of an editorial authored by African editors calling on world leaders to deliver climate justice for Africa and all vulnerable nations. Over 260 journals published the editorial, including more than 50 journals from the African continent. 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. The Facebook engagement and Twitter shares were strong, with a measured engagement of 1.7K and a potential reach of almost 300 million.

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.

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