India among 14 nations to train students on climate change

Washington: The White House today informed that India, France, China and Britain are among 14 countries who will train students on climate change and its impacts on health.

From these 14 countries, 48 medical, public health and nursing schools committed to give training to their students. This put the total number of schools in the world teaching climate change to 118, said the White House.

In India, two centers of Indian Institute of Public Health, including one in Bhubaneshwar, have taken up this objective.

The White House will make an official announcement in this regard on the sidelines of the ongoing Paris Climate Summit.

The present decision to train students on climate change is an expansion of a previous initiative towards this end. The White House said that US President Barrack Obama is committed to this global challenge, which needs a global response.

The 14 additional countries joining the move are Australia, Canada, China, Grenada, Ecuador, Finland, France, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland and United Kingdom.

A Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education will be formed to implement the working of the Health Educators Climate Commitment, as would soon be announced by the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, which is helping in recruiting peer institutions.

The Consortium will also act as a forum, through which, schools around the world dealing with health and medicine would be able to share scientific and educational knowledge and practices; develop a curriculum and core knowledge set; and work on ways to develop academic partnerships on a global platform to support professional health training, especially in countries which are under-resourced, said the White House.

Climate change cannot be ignored anymore as a concern for the future generation, and all nations must work together towards this issue as none are immune to its effects. This is what the Paris talks on climate change are all about, it asserted.

"Today's commitments reinforce not only how vast the impacts of climate change are, but also the opportunity to join together and address this problem," it said.