If the healthcare system was a country, it would be the fifth largest emitter of greenhouse gases on the planet according to the Healthcare without harm 2019 report. As the urgency for reducing our impact on the planet increases, healthcare has the opportunity to rethink and redesign its systems to support our planet and the natural environment that are core to human health. Dr Brown, under the mentorship of Professor Tschakert, will be creating a course and community focused on African healthcare workers looking to put sustainability at the centre of their lives and work. This program will use a transformative pedagogical approach that considers sustainability from a personal, communal and ecological standpoint. It will be participatory and provide participants with both the theory and the pragmatic tools needed to effect change in their lives and workspaces. There will be an online course component, which covers the basics of the intersection of human health and the environment in an African context to help prepare health care workers to meet the challenges Africa is facing with climate change. This will be accompanied by a workbook which can be used for collective learning and nurturing communities of practice who want to address sustainability in their lives and workplaces.

In addition, there will be two in-person wilderness retreats per year focusing on enabling healthcare workers to connect with the natural world, replenish their energy and build their leadership capacity to effect the changes we need from our healthcare system.