The Flemish Government in Belgium has posted a job advertisement for a “Climate Doctor” to address the potential medical effects of climate change.
“As a Climate Doctor, you will contribute to preventing and detecting environmental health damage in Flanders. You will look at climate policy from a medical perspective and help develop prevention strategies to make health systems and the general population more resilient to climate-related stressors,” the job vacancy reads.
“You support activities implementing the Flemish Climate Health Plan, focusing on topics such as heat, UV radiation, infectious diseases, water quality, extreme weather conditions, pollen, allergies, nutrition, and greenhouse gas emissions.
“The plan focuses on climate adaptation and mitigation with a strategic approach through to 2030.”
The Climate Doctor will be tasked with providing medical evidence to assist policy-making and develop prevention strategies to help make both health systems and the population more resilient to “climate stressors.”
Care department spokesperson Joris Moonsens said the impact of the climate on people’s health continued to grow.
“Refining that heat action plan is only part of the Climate Doctor’s remit,” Moonens said. “Heat is, of course, the most obvious consequence of climate change, but the Climate Doctor will also examine other effects of climate change from a medical perspective.”
According to climate studies by VITO, an independent Flanders-based organisation in clean-tech and sustainable development, 461 people die on average due to summer heat. The group has forecast that number was set to increase by sixfold by 2050 due to climate change.
The Flemish Government said it was expecting more “extreme weather conditions” and assumed droughts, heavy storms and storms would create more damage.
Since 2005, Flanders has implemented a heat action plan. During heatwaves, this provides advice to the public, such as encouraging increased water consumption. Additionally, healthcare providers are dispatched with protocols on how to respond effectively to heat-related emergencies.
On social media, many were people unimpressed with the Climate Doctor concept. Most reactions on X described the role a waste of taxpayers’ money. Some noted that 2024 has been particularly wet, with record amounts of rain.
British Professor Jim Skea, the head of the UN climate team with a track-record of 40 years in climate science, said environmental doom-mongers do more harm than good. https://t.co/nKlPP4Be2A
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) August 1, 2023
