Perception of Climate Change at Ain Shams Medical Campus: A Survey of Egyptian Medical Students

Abstract

Background: Climate change represents a great health risk to humanity and healthcare system. Professionals all over the world are taking action to mitigate its impacts. Objective: to evaluate the perception of medical students at Ain Shams University (ASU) towards climate change, its health impact, and responsibilities for the future. Method: A cross-sectional study was carried out among medical students at ASU. The data were gathered using an electronic questionnaire covering socio-demographic characteristics and perceptions towards climate change using 5- point Likert scale. Results: Among 503 participants; 78.5% were 20-25 years old, 54.9% were females, 68.2% were living in urban places, and 57.9% were in academic years. Most students agreed or strongly agreed towards the health impacts of climate change, the importance of receiving education on climate change, and implementation of environmentally sustainable, energy-efficient practices. Furthermore, females and those from urban sites reported a statistically significant disagreement regarding receiving previous medical education about climate change (p <0.001). After applying multi-variate analysis, clinical medical study was a significant predictor for positive perception regarding the health impact of the climate change. Conclusion: Medical students have good perception of climate change and the importance of teaching it in medical programs. The results provide helpful insights about the factors that influence medical students' views on the health implications of climate change, which may inspire the development of personalized interventions to improve medical students' knowledge and attitudes towards climate change.