Imperative for a health-centred focus on climate change in radiology.

Abstract

Climate change negatively impacts individual and population-level health through multiple pathways, including poor air quality, extreme heat and changes in infectious disease. These health effects will lead to higher health system and medical imaging utilisation. At the same time, the delivery of radiology services generates substantial greenhouse gas emissions. Mitigation strategies to reduce the environmental impact of medical imaging and adaptation strategies to build resiliency to current and future impacts of climate change in radiology should be centred on human health. A health-centred response in radiology reinforces the role of radiologists as physicians and emphasises the opportunity for medical imaging to promote health and advance our understanding of climate-related health effects. This review discusses the need for a health-centred focus on climate change in radiology, including the effects of climate change on human health and health systems, intersection of climate change with health equity, health benefits of climate action and opportunities to leverage medical imaging to improve human health.