How to create a more environmentally sustainable health sector?

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that climate change is the greatest threat to global health in the 21st century. Despite the clear link between climate change and negative health outcomes, the health sector is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions globally.

This panel focused on how key players in the health sector are taking concrete actions to turn it around for the environment, at the entrepreneurial, corporate and policy levels. Panellists from WHO, Pfizer, GAVI and Accelerate2030 entrepreneurs spoke about their green and circular innovations, emerging technologies and key learnings aimed at making the health sector more sustainable.

Moderator: Markus Beck, Circular Economy expert, Senior Manager at GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, Accelerate2030 Health Expert Committee.

Introduction to Accelerate2030 Health and Circularity program: Alexandra ‘Santu’ Boëthius, Strategic Lead of Accelerate2030 and Co-founder of Impact Hub Geneva and Lausanne.

Panellists:

• Elena Villalobos Prats, Technical Officer of Climate Change and Health, WHO
• Louise Proud, Vice President, Global Environment, Health & Safety, Pfizer Inc.
• Rafael Figueroa, Founder and CEO of Portal Telemedicina, Accelerate2030 Global Finalist
• Muhammad Fauzal Rizki, Founder and CEO of Sampangan, Accelerate2030 Global Finalist
• Dr. Matthew Meyer, MD, Assistant Professor at University of Virginia, Sustainable Health Advocate

The event was hosted by Accelerate2030, the world’s largest scaling program connecting entrepreneurship and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), together with Impact Hub, one of the world’s largest communities and accelerators for positive change – made up of 100+ communities in 55+ countries across 5 continents, and was be part of the 2021 Global Week to Act4SDGs virtual Turning Point Dialogues and the Global Goals Week.

Read our latest Global Impact Publication to learn more about our work leading the transition to a more just and sustainable future.

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