Developing education in environmental health and medicine focusing on neurology: Initiatives in Sweden (the UPRISE model), France, and Turkey

• Published in: Journal of the neurological sciences 2024-08, Vol.463, p.123117, Article 123117
• Main Authors: Berntsson, Shala Ghaderi, Reis, J., Tulek, Z., Spencer, P.S., Imhoff, M., Joao, Moniz, Lafta, Muataz S., Najar, Y., Tolf, A., Selander, V., Söderfeldt, Y., Landtblom, A.M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Brain health; Climate change; Curriculum; Education; Education Health sciences; Education, Medical - methods; Environmental Health - education; Environmental neurology; Exposures; Female; France; Global; Health sciences; Humans; Male; Medicine; Neurology - education; Poverty; Sweden; Turkey
• ISSN: 0022-510X; 1878-5883; 1878-5883
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jns.2024.123117

The role of environmental factors in neurological disorders constitutes a topic of increasing importance. Teaching in European universities should expand and update this field gaining future health professionals including adjacent disciplines. To describe recent efforts to create courses that cover crucial interdisciplinary content that we believe should be included in modern education, and to adapt modern pedagogic strategies. In collaboration with RISE (Rencontres Internationales Santé Environnement), elective courses focused on Environmental Health and Medicine (EHM) were developed, in France, Sweden, and Turkey. The courses combined classic teaching methods and new pedagogic and digital solutions to create environment-related health awareness and facilitate future interprofessional collaboration in this field. UPRISE is an innovative elective course introduced in 2020 in Sweden's Uppsala University with the participation of lecturers from several countries and aim to recruit students from different universities. A total of 45, mainly female students (68%), participated in the course. In Strasbourg, France, a novel course on environmental medicine was held in 2019–2023 and examined 90 students, of which more than half were female. Nine graduate nurse students in Turkey attended ten seminar series focused on EHM. Overall, students expressed satisfaction with the courses. This European project for courses in higher education arising from RISE was met with appreciation and challenges from academic institutions. However, due to considerable efforts to introduce the EHM concept, a unique compulsory course for all medical students in the second year of training started in 2023 in all French medical faculties. In 2023, UPRISE was integrated into ENLIGHT, the European University Network to promote equitable quality of Life, sustainability, and Global engagement through Higher education Transformation. •There is an unmet need to highlight the role of environmental factors in medicine/neurology.•Medical faculties have included the concept of environmental health and medicine (EHM) in some academic courses in Europe.•In 2018-2023, elective courses were introduced in Sweden, France, and Turkey to raise environmental awareness among students.•The key feature of the courses described in this article was the awareness to adapt to a protective attitude, according to The Precautionary Principle.•The ultimate goal is the global expansion of environmental education in uni