Committee Members:
Dr James Irlam
Prof Milind Chitnis
Dr Christian Lueme Lokotola
Committee members
Dr James Irlam (PhD (Public Health); MSc (Climate Change & Development); MPhil (Epidemiology)) is the Chair and founder of the Education for Sustainable Healthcare (ESH) SIG. He is a Senior Lecturer in the Dept. of Family, Community and Emergency Care, and in the Division of Environmental Health at the University of Cape Town (UCT). His undergraduate and postgraduate teaching focuses on Planetary Health, Climate Change, and Sustainable Healthcare. His PhD on ESH in health professions education identified the barriers and opportunities for curricular integration in South African health sciences faculties. He is leading curricular integration of ESH at UCT Health Sciences and is committed to supporting other faculties via the ESH SIG.
Prof Milind Chitnis is the Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Paediatric Surgery at the East London Hospital Complex, affiliated with Walter Sisulu University. He has been the Honorary Secretary of the Pan African Pediatric Surgical Association (PAPSA) (2023-2027), the Global Initiative for Children’s Surgery (GICS) (2024-2025) and the College of Paediatric Surgeons of South Africa (2020-2023) and a member of the Council of the College of Paediatric Surgeons of South Africa (2017-2026). He is also a founding Trustee of the NPO- Eyabantwana for the Children, which supports the needs of the Department of Paediatric Surgery in East London. He is passionate about improving paediatric surgical care and training in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in Africa.
Dr Christian Lueme Lokotola (PhD: MPH) is an early-career researcher focused on climate change and the effects of air pollution on human health and healthcare services. He holds an MPH and a PhD in Public Health. His current expertise lies in climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable healthcare and Planetary Health Medical Education, which involves integrating planetary health into Medical and Health Professional Education, alongside an ecosystem approach to health. He aims to develop climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable Primary Health Care. Dr Lokotola serves as a reviewer for international journals, assessing scientific papers concerning climate change and its health impacts, Planetary Health and medical education, and air pollution’s effects on health and healthcare. He is fluent in both English and French.
vision and mission
The Vision of this SIG is a cohort of health professional educators in South African faculties of health sciences with the knowledge, skills, and values to equip future health professionals as agents of change for sustainable healthcare in a rapidly changing context of environmental health.
The Mission of the SIG is therefore to create a community of practice in Education for Sustainable Healthcare (ESH) for sharing ideas and resources for teaching and learning with health professional educators in South African faculties of health sciences.
Background
Education for Sustainable Healthcare has been defined as the organization of health professions education to develop knowledge, skills, and attitudes about the interdependence of human health and planetary ecosystems, including the effects of rapid climate and environmental changes on health, and conversely, the environmental impacts of health systems (1).
Global environmental change is widely recognised as a growing global health threat and amplifier of environmental risks to health on a planetary scale. However, it is also a significant public health opportunity to urgently realise the huge co-benefits from mitigating and adapting to environmental degradation and climate change, while simultaneously addressing the environmental determinants of health (2). Health professionals should therefore be taking the lead in protecting public health from global environmental change, especially given the public trust that they generally enjoy. This includes minimising the massive environmental impact of health systems, from high energy and water use to vast amounts of toxic and plastic waste.
South Africa is a significant emitter of global-warming greenhouse gases and is also a highly vulnerable country due to water shortages, a high burden of disease, endemic poverty, and deep inequalities. South Africa’s climate policies and plans recognise the need for more capacity in climate change awareness and adaptation. Furthermore, the Global Road Map for Health Care Decarbonization, which details the considerable climate impacts and mitigation potential of the healthcare sector, urges health professionals to be trained as leaders for rapid climate action and sustainable healthcare (3).
The need for ESH in South Africa is consistent with calls for health professionals to be more socially and environmentally accountable. The 2018 Consensus Report of the Academy of Science of South Africa (Reconceptualising of Health Professionals in South Africa), for example, acknowledges threats to national health security from emerging environmental risks in a context of rapid demographic and epidemiological changes (4).
activities
9 Sept 2025 – 16:00 – 17:00
Dr Gerda Botha (Health Sciences Education, SMU)
Prof Marianne Unger (Physiotherapy, SU)
Prof Talitha Crowley (Nursing, UWC)
Dr Christian Lokotola (Planetary Health, SU)
Meeting ID: 390 005 055 519 1
Passcode: GY9ZR6Pq
Activities include webinars; regular member communication to share ESH news and resources; and support for national curriculum development in ESH.
Proposed activities for 2025-26 include:
- At least three webinars for members to share ESH work in progress in their faculties.
- Support for faculties wishing to undertake a Planetary Health Report Card assessment of Planetary Health and Sustainable Healthcare in their curricula, research, campus operations, student leadership, and community engagement (5).
Figure: Relationship between planetary health, indigenous ecological perspectives, and the knowledge, values, and practices of education for sustainable healthcare (Shaw et. Al, 2021)
references
- Shaw, E, Walpole, S, McLean, M, et al. AMEE Consensus Statement: Planetary health and education for sustainable healthcare. Medical teacher 2021; 43(3): 272-286. 10.1080/0142159X.2020.1860207
- Whitmee, S, Haines, A, Beyrer, C, et al. Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch: Report of the Rockefeller Foundation-Lancet Commission on planetary health. The Lancet 2015; 386(10007): 1973-2028. 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60901-1
- Karliner, J., Roschnik, S., Boyd, R., Ashby, B., & Steele, K. (2021). Global road map for health care decarbonization. A navigational tool for achieving zero emissions with climate resilience and health equitHealth Care Without Harm and Arup.
- ASSAf (2018). Reconceptualising health professions education in South Africa.
- Irlam, J, Reid, S and Rother, H-A Education about Planetary Health and Sustainable Healthcare in low- and middle-income countries: Planetary Health Report Card assessment of perceptions at University of Cape Town Faculty of Health Sciences. Education for health 2024; 37(1): 8-19. 10.62694/efh.2024.17
To join any of our SIG’s and obtain SAAHE membership, please complete the membership form