GGHH SE ASIA WEBINAR | (Series) Sustainable Food Systems: A Healthcare Climate Response and COVID-19 Recovery Plan

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The biggest threat from pandemics and climate change is food insecurity and malnutrition. Protecting the food sovereignty of the people is paramount. This encompasses food security which is the right to safe, nutritious, adequate and culturally appropriate food  as well the right to grow food ecologically and the right to productive resources for small food producers. Sustainable practices on food production and consumption play a major role in adapting and responding to the food insecurity during the pandemic. This includes local food systems by communities, buildings and houses with their own urban gardens, and shifting to plant-based diet. Sustainable food systems necessarily incorporate healthy farming and fair distribution systems to produce healthy food to sustain healthy communities within and around the hospitals. For hospitals, this means procuring food that is grown locally and ecologically free from synthetic chemicals. Green hospitals that promote and support healthy, ecological food systems  will not only contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions but also build the resilience of the hospitals and the surrounding communities to climate change, pandemics like COVID-19 and other threats to food safety and food security.

The Global Green and Healthy Hospitals (GGHH) network, a community of hospitals, health care facilities, health systems, and health organizations, is dedicated to reducing the ecological footprint of the health sector and promoting greater sustainability and environmental health, thereby transforming and strengthening the health systems globally.

GGHH network promotes public and environmental health, and in this 3rd webinar series, we will tackle how sustainable food systems can add and help strengthen resilience in healthcare as we emerge from the impacts of the pandemic and tackle climate change.

Specifically, this webinar aims to:

1. Share how the sustainable practices on food production and consumption of green hospitals were used as adaptive responses to the pandemic crisis
2. Understand how a healthy food system in hospitals is key to protecting the health of all staff, patients and visitors as well as building internal and community resilience.
3. Determine the opportunities, challenges and lessons learned from the pandemic that can lead to a sustainable and resilient food systems for hospitals