Climate and health
The Climate and impacts on health.
Climate Change is widely recognised as the number one health emergency, and the Black Summer fires of 2019-2020 had a dramatic impact on the rural community of Albury/Wodonga. As a doctor for well over 3 decades, Dr McGowan has cared for thousands of patients, many over four generations. She has seen the impact of drought, floods and bushfires on her patients. Rebecca is proactive in working to help her community to manage the impact of the changes in the environment.
Rebecca has been active in Australia and internationally discussing the negative impact of bushfire smoke on the health of all her patients, but in particular on those who are pregnant.
She has been interviewed on this topic by the ABC (Radio and TV), 2GB, 3AW, CBC Canada, Newstalk Ireland, BBC Radio and BBC TV (over 100 million viewers), in print media The Sun and on Al Jazeera.
In 2021, Dr McGowan was invited to present to The Australian Senate on the inquiry into “Lessons to be learnt from the Black Summer Bushfires” regarding the urgent need for practical solutions to manage exposure to bushfire smoke.
Media Links
Dr McGowan has been interviewed by many organisations, and this article from Rural Health is a great summary.
She has also been part of an awarded Australian documentary, Burning, on the impact of the 2019–20 fires on Australia –Amazon Prime (240 countries)
In 2023 Dr McGowan features in the Bloomberg documentary, print and podcast series on the Black Summer Bushfires.
