Sustainability and health – a key connection for preventing disease and improving health and quality of life

LLYC’s global healthcare team has launched the second instalment on its Whats Up Health platform with a focus on “Sustainability and Health”. This publication delves into the inseparable relationship between the two concepts, as a commitment to sustainability and protecting the environment is not only essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, but also for improving people’s health and as a preventive measure against future illnesses, a key aspect in guaranteeing the perpetuity of the National Health System.

Last April, the WHO launched the campaign “Our Planet, Our Health” because, in the words of the Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom, “the climate crisis is a health crisis: the same unsustainable choices that are killing our planet are killing human beings“. Indeed, 99% of the population breathe polluted air every day, laden with toxic gases and micro particles that cause everything from asthma and respiratory diseases to migraines, heart attacks, various cancers, reproductive problems and pregnancy complications.

In this issue, Pablo Blázquez, director of Ethic magazine, reflects on the importance of moving towards a more sustainable society as a way to improve the health and quality of life of current and future generations.

In the field of health, sustainability takes on an even more complex dimension: that of the perpetuity of the healthcare system through proper management, both financially and in terms of patients. Dr Adolfo Hernández, physician, paediatrician and epidemiologist, and Javier Marín, Senior Director of Healthcare Americas at LLYC, talk about the necessary balance between prevention and cure in their article. And Luis Anaya, Director of Healthcare Mexico and Northern Region at LLYC, puts forward a number of suggestions to consider in the decision-making process that will guarantee the universal right to health throughout the world.