Cornell University’s new Master of Public Health Program was launched in 2017, uniting diverse public health activities from across campus.  Although public health teaching, research and engagement have been critical parts of Cornell since its founding, this new program was designed to prepare public health leaders to meet critical new challenges to our health, particularly involving issues of sustainability and equity. The fields of planetary health and One Health are the catalyst for tackling these problems. But what exactly do these terms mean, and how do they impact human health?  On their website, Cornell’s MPH Program provides an overview of what planetary health and One Health are, and a simple explanation of why these fields are critical to achieving public health. These approaches are especially important as humans have an ever increasing impact on the Earth’s ecosystems, depleting the natural resources that have afforded us health and wealth.

Freelance author Nate Seltenrich just published a comprehensive overview of The Emerging Field of Planetary Health in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, where he notes that “planetary health, by definition, explicitly accounts for the importance of natural systems in terms of averted cases of disease and the potential harm that comes from human-caused perturbations of these systems.” This is important as “humans’ growing influence on the planet threatens the very long-term survival of our species.”

Cornell University is proud to be one of the founding members of the Planetary Health Alliance, and to offer the very first MPH program based on planetary health principles.

Photo courtesy of Environmental Health Perspectives https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/ehp2374/

Blog written by Gen Meredith, Associate Director, Cornell MPH Program