The link between healthcare and energy supply: how joined-up thinking can lead to more synergies between the two policy fields

Comment | Stellungnahme

The connection between the policy fields of energy and health may be hard to grasp at first glance. Nevertheless, the negative externalities resulting from the consumption of fossil fuels are clearly identified. In January 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) named climate change and air pollution as two of the greatest challenges to human health. A differentiated look at infrastructure, availability and quality of energy supply and healthcare as well as at access to both shows how closely intertwined these policy fields are. No modern hospital can operate without secure elec­tricity supply and efficient cold chains are essential for storing vaccines. In line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the two policy fields must be designed and interlinked in such a way that they contribute to human security beyond national borders and take planetary boundaries into account. It is necessary to bring health and energy together and to create synergies between them. This would be an important step towards a swifter implementation of the SDGs. (author's abstract)

Object Details

• Alternative title: Der Zusammenhang von Gesundheits- und Energieversorgung: wie vernetztes Denken zu mehr Synergien der beiden Politikbereiche führen kann
• ISSN: 1861-1761
• Extent: Seite(n): 7
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Status: Veröffentlichungsversion; begutachtet

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: SWP Comment (14/2019)

Classification and Topics

• Subject: Ökologie ; Sozialwissenschaften, Soziologie ; Politikwissenschaft ; Ökologie und Umwelt ; Gesundheitspolitik ; spezielle Ressortpolitik ; Energiepolitik ; Gesundheitspolitik ; Gesundheitswesen ; internationale Zusammenarbeit ; Governance ; Wirtschaftspolitik ; Energiewirtschaft ; Energieversorgung ; Gesundheitsversorgung ; menschliche Sicherheit ; nachhaltige Entwicklung ; Umweltverträglichkeit ; UNO

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Keim, Martin ; Pastukhova, Maria ; Voss, Maike ; Westphal, Kirsten
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik -SWP- Deutsches Institut für Internationale Politik und Sicherheit
• (where): Deutschland, Berlin
• (when): 2019

Further information

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.18449/2019C14
• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-62249-5
• Rights: GESIS - Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften. Bibliothek Köln
• Last update: 21.06.2024, 4:27 PM CEST