Sufficiency health-wise: sustainable paths towards planetary and public health

Klaus Geiselhart; Maik Damm; Niklas Jeske; Alexia Knappmann; Gabriela Pen Nasser; Laura Franziska Roth; Regine Unkels; Andrea Sylvia Winkler; Jennyfer Wolf; Timo Falkenberg

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2024.1497657

Sufficiency health-wise: sustainable paths towards planetary and public health

Front Public Health. 2024 Nov 19:12:1497657. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1497657. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Klaus Geiselhart^{1

2}, Maik Damm^{2

3

4

5}, Niklas Jeske^{2

6

7}, Alexia Knappmann^{2

8}, Gabriela Pen Nasser^{2

9

10}, Laura Franziska Roth^{2

11

12}, Regine Unkels^{2

13}, Andrea Sylvia Winkler^{2

11

12

14

15}, Jennyfer Wolf^{2

16}, Timo Falkenberg^{2

17}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Geography, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
² Global Health Hub Germany, Planetary Health Working Group, Berlin, Germany.
³ Animal Venomics Lab, Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME, Giessen, Germany.
⁴ LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics (LOEWE-TBG), Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
⁵ Institute for Insect Biotechnology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany.
⁶ Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Institute of General Practice and Family Medicine, Berlin, Germany.
⁷ Vivantes Klinikum im Friedrichshain, Berlin, Germany.
⁸ Wateraid Germany, Berlin, Germany.
⁹ Instituto Melhores Dias, São Paulo, Brazil.
¹⁰ Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Medizinische Fakultät, Freiburg, Germany.
¹¹ Department of Neurology, TUM University Hospital, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Munich, Germany.
¹² Center for Global Health, School of Medicine and Health, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Munich, Germany.
¹³ Consultant Women's Health and Planetary Health, Bonn, Germany.
¹⁴ Department of Community Medicine and Global Health, Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
¹⁵ Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.
¹⁶ Consultant in Environment, Climate Change and Health, Freiburg, Germany.
¹⁷ Institute for Hygiene and Public Health, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.

Abstract

Planet Earth is threatened by the human population. Energy and resource use are far beyond the planet's carrying capacity. Planetary Health suggests an alternative idea of prosperity as the best possible human health for all within planetary boundaries. This implies giving priority to ecology because human health depends ultimately on the integrity of the global biosphere. This paper presents a Health Sufficiency Framework, based on the Doughnut Economics Model. It is meant to fuel discussions on delicate topics of the required transformations of health care and public health.

Keywords: health system-organization and administration; notions of health and wellbeing; planetary health; structural prevention; sustainability.

MeSH terms

Conservation of Natural Resources
Earth, Planet
Global Health
Humans
Models, Economic
Public Health*
Sustainable Development

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.