How Healthcare Systems Negatively Impact Environmental Health? The Need for Institutional Commitment to Reduce the Ecological Footprint of Medical Services

Prisco Piscitelli, Stela Karaj*, Alessandro Miani*, Tassos C. Kyriakides, Enrico Greco, Elena Colicino, Antonio Bray, Fernando Simón, Vasilis Vasiliou, Andrea A. Baccarelli

Epidemiologia 2023, 4(4), 521-524;
November 2023
DOI: 10.3390/epidemiologia4040043

Abstract:
The global healthcare industry plays a crucial role in preserving human health and well-being. However, there is a growing concern that the operation of healthcare systems may have unintended negative consequences on environment and health. Actually, healthcare systems worldwide are aimed at improving human health and prolonging life expectancy, but the pursuit of better health outcomes has environmental ramifications that are often underperceived.

In Western countries, the health sector represents between 8 and 10% of a country’s gross domestic product and employs 8% of total workers. This large-scale activity inevitably results in having a huge impact on the environment since it requires the use of various means of transportation, and the consumption of electricity and chemicals. Therefore, it is not a surprise that healthcare systems account for an average of 8.5% of total greenhouse gas emissions in the United States and about 6% in other Western countries. Specifically, in a 2013 study, the US healthcare sector was found to be responsible for 12% of the overall national acid rain emissions, 10% of greenhouse gas emissions recorded that year and 10% of smog formation, being responsible also for 9% of air pollutants (including carcinogenic toxics) and 1% of stratospheric ozone depletion.

Europe, USA and China account for over half of the world’s healthcare-related emissions. The British Health Service alone emits 25 million tonnes of CO₂ annually. These emissions of UK are equivalent to the annual emissions of the entire Croatia and represent a quantity of CO₂ similar to that emitted by 12 million vehicles travelling an average distance of 15,000 km in a year. Additionally, the healthcare sector consumes 39 billion litres of water every year, which is twice the capacity of the renowned Lake of Como (in Italy) and more than half of Geneva or Lausanne’s lakes (in Switzerland).