The Emergence of Planetary Pediatrics

Abstract

Pediatrics has witnessed an evolution from primary care, family-centered care, community pediatrics, social pediatrics and global pediatrics, which has shifted our attention beyond the clinic setting to an appreciation of children in their lived environment. We are witnessing the emergence of planetary pediatrics that further broadens the focus of children’s health to include the continued importance of clinical care, but also the impacts of climate change, environmental degradation, child migration, unrelenting war and conflict, social injustice, pandemics and violence against children. If we do not acknowledge the present and ever-increasing adverse planetary changes of what children are experiencing now and in the future, we will have failed to adequately protect them from impending catastrophes. The hope of pediatrics for the future is to improve the health and well-being of all children. This hope remains as relevant today as it was for our predecessors and serves as a beacon for the voyage through the remainder of the twenty-first century.