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Menzies School of Health Research

Menzies School of Health Research

The Menzies School of Health Research (Menzies) is one of Australia’s leading medical research institutes dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of First Nations peoples. It delivers cutting-edge research, translates evidence into practice, and provides education and training that positively impact communities across Australia, especially those in remote regions. Menzies’ impact stems from close collaboration with governments, health services and communities, ensuring its research targets real-world, context-specific challenges, including those posed by climate change.

Based in Central Australia, the Menzies Remote Health Systems and Climate Change Centre (RHC3) leads interdisciplinary climate and health research that brings together climate scientists, medical researchers, clinicians, and residents from some of Australia’s most remote areas. Supported by funding from the Wellcome Trust, National Health and Medical Research Council and Medical Research Futures Fund, the climate program focuses on strengthening climate resilience and co-designing adaptive and mitigation strategies tailored for low-resource, remote settings. Nationally, Menzies serves as the jurisdictional lead for the Healthy Environments and Lives (HEAL) network’s Northern Territory Community of Practice and co-leads the HEAL rural and remote health theme, contributing to a national collaboration of more than 30 organisations and hundreds of researchers focused on climate and health.

Supporting the following commitments:

  • Commitment 1: Conduct climate change and health vulnerability and adaptation assessments (V&As) at population level and/or health care facility level.
  • Commitment 2: Develop a health national adaptation plan (HNAP) informed by the health V&A, which forms part of the National Adaptation Plan.
  • Commitment 3: Use the V&A and HNAP to facilitate access to climate change funding for health.
  • Commitment 4: Set a target date by which to achieve health systems net zero emissions (ideally by 2050).
  • Commitment 5: Deliver a baseline assessment of greenhouse gas emissions of the health system (including supply chains).
  • Commitment 6: Develop an action plan or roadmap by a set date to develop a sustainable low carbon health system (including supply chains).

Country experience:

Australia commitments 1,2