Another good resources from from our friends at CAHA (Climate and Health Alliance) – a resource for healthcare workers on how to reduce single use plastics in healthcare! They have also summarised into a one page fact sheet. CAHA! They’re doing the work for so many of us. We just need to apply these recommendations.
Let’s reduce single use plastics in healthcare!
Not sure where to start?
These reports are a good place:
- Measuring and Reducing Plastics in the Healthcare Sector from Health Care Without Harm Europe provides an overview of the issue (including the impact of plastic on health and the environment, the scale of the problem, problematic chemicals in healthcare plastics), a toolkit for reducing unnecessary plastics in healthcare, and some best practice examples of successful plastic reduction initiatives in healthcare.
- Mobilising Health Care to Prevent Plastic Pollution: A Plastics Toolkit for Hospitals from Health Care Without Harm South East Asia outlines healthcare’s role in addressing plastic pollution, provides information about the different types of plastics used in healthcare, outlines how to conduct a plastics audit, gives guidance on how to reduce plastics, outlines actions for government and industry, and case studies of health institutions reducing plastic use.
Visit the Climate and Health Alliance Resource page
View the CAHA resource “LET’S REDUCE SINGLE USE PLASTICS IN HEALTHCARE!”
Magdalena Simonis
Chair, Climate Health Action Group (CHAG)
Associate Professor Magdalena Simonis AM is a Past President of the AFMW (2020-2023), former President of VMWS (2013 & 2017-2020) and current AFMW National Coordinator (2024-2026). She is a full time clinician who also holds positions on several not for profit organisations, driven by her passion for bridging gaps across the health sector. She is a leading women’s health expert, keynote speaker, climate change and gender equity advocate and government advisor. Magda is member of The Australian Health Team contributing monthly articles.
Magdalena was awarded a lifetime membership of the RACGP for her contributions which include past chair of Women in General Practice, longstanding contribution to the RACGP Expert Committee Quality Care, the RACGP eHealth Expert Committee. She is regularly invited to comment on primary care research though mainstream and medical media and contributes articles on various health issues through newsGP and other publications.
Magdalena has represented the RACGP at senate enquiries and has worked on several National Health Framework reviews. She is author of the RACGP Guide on Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery and co-reviewer of the RACGP Red Book Women’s Health Chapter, and reviewer of the RACGP White book
Both an RACGP examiner and University examiner, she undertakes general practice research and is a GP Educator with the Safer Families Centre of Research Excellence, which develops education tools to assist the primary care sector identify, respond to and manage family violence . Roles outside of RACGP include the Strategy and Policy Committee for Breast Cancer Network Australia, Board Director of the Melbourne University Teaching Health Clinics and the elected GP representative to the AMA Federal Council. In 2022. she was award the AMA (Vic) Patrick Pritzwald-Steggman Award 2022, which celebrates a doctor who has made an exceptional contribution to the wellbeing of their colleagues and the community and was listed as Women’s Agenda 2022 finalist for Emerging Leader in Health.
Magdalena has presented at the United Nations as part of the Australian Assembly and was appointed the Australian representative to the World Health Organisation, World Assembly on COVID 19, by the Medical Women’s International Association (MWIA) in 2021. In 2023, A/Professor Simonis was included on the King’s COVID-19 Champion’s list and was also awarded a Member (AM) in the General Division for significant service to medicine through a range of roles and to women’s health.
