Biodiversity and Human Health Interlinkages in Higher Education Offerings: A First Global Overview

Drawing a line from CO2 emissions to health-evaluation of medical students' knowledge and attitudes towards climate change and health following a novel serious game: a mixed-methods study

BACKGROUND

Education is urgently needed to equip medical students with knowledge, values and skills to promote planetary health. However, the current literature offers little insight into evidence-based approaches and best practices. In response to this pressing need, a novel serious game was introduced into the medical curriculum at Erasmus Medical Center in 2023. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of medical students after they had played a serious game that addresses climate change and health.

METHODS

In accordance with a mixed-methods design, quantitative data were collected using pre- and post-intervention surveys. Differences were assessed using the Wilcoxon signed rank test. Focus group discussions were held after the game and thematically analysed.

RESULTS

One hundred forty-five students (38.6% of the entire cohort) played the game, of which 59 students completed the pre- and post-intervention surveys. After the game, self-reported knowledge increased. Regarding objective knowledge, an increase in the proportion of students who answered one of the two questions correctly was observed, while the proportion of correct responses decreased for the other question. Student's responses to two out of five attitude questions were significantly more positive. The proportion of students who recognized the importance of climate change education, to inform patients and society about the health impacts of climate change, increased. Moreover, survey results indicated a significant increase in climate worry subsequent to the game. Eleven students participated in the focus group discussions. Thematic analysis highlighted participants' reflections on the roles and responsibilities in climate change and health, along with their realisation of the tools for action that climate and health co-benefits provide. Another significant aspect was the importance participants placed on learning alongside peers with diverse attitudes. Additionally, participants appreciated the tangible overview of climate change and health provided by the serious game.

CONCLUSIONS

Our novel serious game addressed an important gap in the medical curriculum. The game can enable medical students to cultivate the necessary knowledge and attitudes to promote health in times of a climate crisis. The accompanying climate worry needs attention through the empowerment of students' agency to foster change.

Removal from the wild endangers the once widespread long-tailed macaque

In 2022, long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), a once ubiquitous primate species, was elevated to Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. In 2023, recognizing that the long-tailed macaque is threatened by multiple factors: (1) declining native habitats across Southeast Asia; (2) overutilization for scientific, commercial, and recreational purposes; (3) inadequate regulatory mechanisms; and (4) culling due to human-macaque conflicts, a petition for rulemaking was submitted to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to add the species to the US Endangered Species Act, the nation's most effective law to protect at risk species. The long-tailed macaque remains unprotected across much of its geographical range despite the documented continual decline of the species and related sub-species and the recent IUCN reassessment. This commentary presents a review of the factors that have contributed to the dramatic decline of this keystone species and makes a case for raising the level of protection they receive.

What are green prescriptions? A scoping review

Introduction Clear terminology is critical to allow accurate communication between practitioners, policy makers and the public. Aim We investigated how the term 'green prescription' has been used in the peer-reviewed literature. Methods We conducted a scoping review of the peer-reviewed literature that used the term 'green prescription(s)' and determined how this term was used. We then investigated how the term has been used over time, in different geographic locations and in different academic disciplines. Results We included 268 articles that used the term 'green prescription(s)'. We found that the phrase 'green prescription(s)' has been used since 1997 to mean a written prescription for a lifestyle change, most commonly physical activity, provided by a health practitioner. However, more recently (since 2014) the term has also been used to mean exposure to nature. Despite the emergence of this new meaning, 'green prescription' remains, in the health and medical science literature across all continents, most commonly used to describe a prescription for physical activity. Conclusion The use of the term 'green prescriptions' is inconsistent and has led to misuse of the research evidence regarding written prescriptions for exercise/diet being used to justify nature exposure to improve human health. We recommend that the term 'green prescriptions' continues to be used only as per its original definition, to refer to written prescriptions for physical activity and/or diet. For prescriptions to spend time in nature, we suggest use of the more appropriate term 'nature prescriptions'.

Evaluating natural medicinal resources and their exposure to global change

Medicinal plants and their bioactive molecules are integral components of nature and have supported the health of human societies for millennia. However, the prevailing view of medicinal biodiversity solely as an ecosystem-decoupled natural resource of commercial value prevents people from fully benefiting from the capacity of nature to provide medicines and from assessing the vulnerability of this capacity to the global environmental crisis. Emerging scientific and technological developments and traditional knowledge allow for appreciating medicinal plant resources from a planetary health perspective. In this Personal View, we highlight and integrate current knowledge that includes medicinal, biodiversity, and environmental change research in a transdisciplinary framework to evaluate natural medicinal resources and their vulnerability in the anthropocene. With Europe as an application case, we propose proxy spatial indicators for establishing the capacity, potential societal benefits, and economic values of native medicinal plant resources and the exposure of these resources to global environmental change. The proposed framework and indicators aim to be a basis for transdisciplinary research on medicinal biodiversity and could guide decisions in addressing crucial multiple Sustainable Development Goals, from accessible global health care to natural habitat protection and restoration.

A Survey of the Role of Environmental Education in Biodiversity Conservation in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana

Biodiversity in all its forms has come under threat. The rate of biodiversity loss has attracted global attention, and most governments are trying to put measures into place to reduce the rate of loss. One way to ensure that people are conscious of biodiversity conservation is through education. However, studies on creating awareness for biodiversity conservation have received less attention in the literature. To address this knowledge gap, this study used questionnaires to investigate the role of education in biodiversity conservation in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. The study found that environmental education, particularly an awareness of biodiversity conservation, is critical for conserving biodiversity. However, people’s knowledge of biodiversity conservation is too weak or inadequate to motivate them to incorporate biodiversity conservation practices into their daily activities. Furthermore, understanding the importance of biodiversity conservation comes with an increase in age. Increasing education on biodiversity conservation at an early age can help people become more aware of biodiversity conservation as they age, and they can incorporate it into their daily activities to reduce biodiversity loss. The study calls for a revision of the environmental education syllabus at various levels, particularly the basic and SHS levels, including more practical topics to help people change their attitudes and perceptions and incorporate biodiversity into their daily activities.

Needs for a Curricular Change in Primary and Secondary Education From the One Health Perspective: A Pilot Study on Pneumonia in Schools

This is the first pilot study on alternative conceptions and obstacles pertaining to pneumonia in adolescents of different school vulnerability indexes. Countries with low socioeconomic levels are disproportionately affected, with Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) being the second-most affected area in the world, after sub-Saharan Africa. In spite of this fact, pneumonia is not included as an important component within the contents of the microbiology curriculum unit in the natural science school program. Therefore, we wanted to study how students knew about this topic by putting One Health into action by building and validating qualitative and quantitative questionnaires, put together by different experts in pedagogy, didactics, microbiology, and veterinary to find out what students knew about pneumonia and their misconceptions about it. A total of 148 students (in 8th and 9th grade) participated in this survey. The results reveal that no statistically significant differences between the different scholar grades (p = 0.3360 Pearson chi^∧2) or genders (p = 0.8000 Fisher's exact test) presented higher or lower School Vulnerability Index (SVI). Regardless of the social stratum or the level of vulnerability of the students, they have heard about this disease primarily through their family/relatives, maintaining a superficial notion of the disease, learning wrong ideas about microorganisms and treatments that can contribute to the risk to public health.

From the Approach to the Concept: One Health in Latin America-Experiences and Perspectives in Brazil, Chile, and Colombia

Professionals throughout the world have been working to assess the interdisciplinary interaction and interdependence between health and wellbeing in a constantly changing environment. The One Health concept was developed to encourage sustainable collaborative partnerships and to promote optimal health for people, animals, plants, the environment, and the whole planet. The dissemination of scientific discoveries and policies, by working directly with diverse communities, has been one of the main goals for Global One Health. The One Health concept has also been referred or related to as "One Medicine, One Medicine-One Health, One World-One Health, EcoHealth," and Planetary Health," depending on each fundamental view and approach. In Latin America, despite the concept still being discussed among health professionals and educators, several One Health initiatives have been used daily for more than decades. One Health action has been applied especially in rural and underserved urban areas where low socioeconomic status, lack of health professionals, and scarcity of medical resources may require professionals to work together. Local communities from diverse social and economic statuses, including indigenous populations have been working with institutions and social organizations for many years, accomplishing results through grassroots movements. These "bottom-up" socio-community approaches have also been tools for the prevention and control of diseases, such practice has preceded the One Health concepts in Latin American countries. It is strongly believed that collaborative, multidisciplinary, political, and economic initiatives with prosocial focus may become investments toward obtaining significant results in the face of global, economic and health challenges; working for a healthier world with inclusivity, equity, and equality. In this study, it is briefly presented how the One Health approach has been initiated and developed in Latin America, highlighting the events and actions taken in Brazil, Chile, and Colombia.