Global Health and the Environment

While health and healthcare have been predominantly focused on human beings, we have come to realize that both animal health and environmental health play a central role in our efforts to protect and promote human health. Whether as a result of climate change or pandemic diseases, we now know that what happens to animals and the environment have a direct impact on the qualities of our lives and our ability to be healthy. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 12.6 million people died as a result of living or working in an unhealthy environment; nearly 1 in 4 of total global deaths. Given the global dimension of the relationship between health and the environment, this is a growing and important area of global health.

In this stream, students will explore how environmental and animal health shape human health, examining issues such as climate change, pollution, habitat loss, and emerging diseases, and their impact on health and wellbeing. With a focus on ecological determinants of health, students will also examine how human practices related to animals and the environment, such as factory farming, antibiotic overuse, habitat encroachment, pollution, chemical exposures, and land use, influence health and health equity.

The global health and environment stream will allow specialized honours students to take additional courses from the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change to deepen their knowledge and understanding in various aspects of related to environmental health and its determinants.