Govt asked to focus on health-related issues

Experts say climate change, environmental degradation and rising population needs to be addressed

ISLAMABAD:

Stressing the need to adopt a holistic approach to deal with health-related challenges, including mental and physical diseases, experts said that climate change, environmental degradation, and population growth are some of the critical issues that need to be addressed on priority.

These views were expressed at a webinar on ‘Our Planet, Our Health’ organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), said a press release issued here on Thursday.

Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences Dean and Chief Executive Dr Rizwan Taj said that mental health comes first as it is extremely important for normal physical health. “Thus, all the SDGs directly impact ‘mental health,” he said emphasising that comprehensive prevention and diagnosing policy encompassing all the members of the society can help recover people from mental health issues.

Health Services Academy Vice-Chancellor Dr Shahzad Ali Khan was of the view that environmental degradation as a result of tree-cutting is not only an environmental issue but also it causes complications for human health.

He said: “Unplanned or poorly planned urbanisation leads to slums, and ultimately creates communicable and non-communicable diseases among human beings.” He added that the health of the nation can be improved by a multi-sectorial approach and by discussing the issue on diverse forums.

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University of Agriculture Faisalabad Vice-Chancellor Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan stressed the need to go for a ‘one health’ approach, which includes all the ingredients such as food and water preservation. He said that population growth has also exacerbated the situation of food which causes malnutrition and stunted growth.

While mentioning climate-related hazards, World Health Organisation, Regional Adviser on Mental Health Dr Khalid Saeed said that such hazards have increased by 50 per cent along with the slow threats like water shortages and food insecurity and hence, creating a direct impact on human health.

“Prioritising mental health policies and integrating them with other policies at the national level is the need of the hour,” he said and called for a global commitment to the SDGs and commitment for the Paris agreement on climate change as mental health is directly linked to climate change.

Agriculture University Faisalabad microbiologist Dr Muhammad Imran said that plastic particles in foodstuff are not only toxic to the human body but also hazardous to the planet and other creatures.

Dr Razia Safdar from SDPI asserted that mental health at the policy and implementation level is the need of the hour. Moreover, conserving and protecting the food chains from hazardous nutrients should be focused on, she said.

SDPI Co-ordinator Advocacy and Policy Outreach Ayesha Ilyas earlier informed the audience that April 7 is marked as International Health Day which is celebrated in order to create awareness regarding good wellbeing and diseased-free health.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 8^th, 2022.