A greener health: how to foster environmental sustainability in healthcare

Metrolab Brussels, City-Labs and Health First Europe partner to organise the next meeting of the City-Labs Talk Series planned for Tuesday, 14th May 2019 from 17.30 to 19.00 at Metrolab.

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urban-ecology

The purpose of this informal debate is to offer a real and dynamic discussion among key stakeholders and policymakers on how to foster on sustainability in healthcare sector and which approach can reduce environmental footprints, from digital management for efficient use of resources, designing ‘greener’ buildings, to primary care settings to reduce hospital admissions and costs.

As the third largest employer worldwide and a major consumer of resources, healthcare has the potential to make a significant impact on European sustainability strategies. Taken as a whole, the health sector consumes a large amount of energy and resources, and produces major streams of emissions and waste. Healthcare is the only sector generating all existing classes of waste, with 20% being dangerous, infectious, toxic or radioactive in nature.

Furthermore, the healthcare sector is itself a major energy user. A European hospital consumes on average 300 Kw of thermal and over 100 Kw of electrical energy per square meter per hour, accounting for 5% of CO2 emissions. Therefore, reducing hospital admissions is not only critical for human health but also to curb environmental and financial costs.

Healthcare settings have a major role to play in reducing such environmental impact by using their resources more efficiently, designing ‘greener’ buildings and fostering primary care. However, environmental actions to tackle climate change shall not affect the quality of care, the safety of patients and healthcare workforce, while keeping down the cost and the waste of resources.

Keynote contributors will be:

  • Bernard Gouget, IFCC – The International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine
  • Arianna Gamba, Health Care Without Harm
  • Michele Calabrò, European Health Management Association
  • Damien Gruson, City-labs project
  • Maguelone Vignes, Metrolab
  • Usman Khan, European Patients’ forum

To register, click here

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Our partners for this event:

  • City-Labs is an ambitious project financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) which aims to create 2 new primary care structures in Brussels. These City-Labs will be integrating the innovation of laboratory medicine and mobile health. The scope of the project is to facilitate access to laboratory tests as part of an integrated and collaborative approach to ambulatory care of a chronically ill individual, as well as to contribute to the dynamic monitoring of patients with chronic diseases.

  • Health First Europe is a non-profit European alliance of patients, healthcare workers, academics and healthcare experts and the medical technology industry. Our mission is to ensure that equitable access to modern, innovative and reliable medical technology and healthcare is regarded as a vital investment in the future of Europe. We call for truly patient-centred healthcare and believe that every European citizen should benefit from the best medical treatments available. As part of our awareness raising activities, we organise events and issue publications with the aim of communicating our core messages to EU decision-makers and opinion leaders.

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