Assessment of environmental sustainability in renal healthcare

Kei Nagai; Hiroaki Suzuki; Atsushi Ueda; John W M Agar; Norihiro Itsubo

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Assessment of environmental sustainability in renal healthcare

VernacularTitle:Assessment of environmental sustainability in renal healthcare
Author: Kei NAGAI ¹ ; Hiroaki SUZUKI ² ; Atsushi UEDA ¹ ; John W. M. Agar ³ ; Norihiro ITSUBO ⁴
Author Information

1. Department of Nephrology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Japan
2. Faculty of Environmental and Information Studies, Tokyo City University, Japan
3. Department of Nephrology, Hitachi General Hospital, Japan
4. Department of Renal Medicine, University Hospital Geelong, Australia
Keywords: healthcare; carbon footprint; life cycle assessment; life cycle impact assessment; chronic dialysis
From:Journal of Rural Medicine 2021;16(3):132-138
CountryJapan
Language:English
Abstract: The health effects of climate change are becoming increasingly important; there are direct effects from heatwaves and floods, and indirect effects from the altered distribution of infectious diseases and changes in crop yield. Ironically, the healthcare system itself carries an environmental burden, contributing to environmental health impacts. Life cycle assessment is a widely accepted and well-established method that quantitatively evaluates environmental impact. Given that monetary evaluations have the potential to motivate private companies and societies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions using market mechanisms, instead of assessing the carbon footprint alone, we previously developed a life cycle impact assessment method based on an endpoint that integrates comprehensive environmental burdens into a single index—the monetary cost. Previous investigations estimated that therapy for chronic kidney disease had a significant carbon footprint in the healthcare sector. We have been aiming to investigate on the environmental impact of chronic kidney disease based on field surveys from the renal department in a hospital and several health clinics in Japan. To live sustainably, it is necessary to establish cultures, practices, and research that aims to conserve resources to provide environmentally friendly healthcare in Japan.