Planetary health curriculum in higher education: Scoping review

Abstract

Introduction: Human actions on this planet have caused numerous changes and negative impacts on society and the ecosystem. Thus, the field of Planetary Health emerged with the need to adopt approaches that reconcile natural and human systems. However, this field of study is still little recognized in the internal and external environments of the scientific community and society in general, especially in developing countries. Objective: The objective is to provide a comprehensive view of publications on the actions and scenarios of higher education regarding planetary health that can help in the formulation of teaching plans on planetary health. This article aims to review and describe variables such as curriculum, workload, and main methods and approaches used in higher education on planetary health. Methods: This is a scoping review based on the evaluation of studies that address teaching methods in undergraduate health courses. The study was conducted in July 2022, in the electronic databases, Scopus, PubMed, and EMBASE, by the identification, selection, mapping, and summary of the included studies were carried out. Results: The articles included indicate that there are few reports of experiences in countries of the Global South and such curricula are especially focused on medicine and nursing courses. Conclusion: Current and future health professionals are not yet prepared for the challenges they will face regarding planetary health. Thus, the need to include this theme in curricula is urgent and should be considered a priority in new curriculum proposals.