Climate change in medical education: A cross-sectional study assessing knowledge and perceptions among future health care providers in Egypt

Background: Preparing future healthcare providers to address the adverse effects of climate change on human health begins in medical school. This study evaluated the integration of climate change into the medical curriculum and assessed the knowledge, perceptions, and awareness of climate change and its health impacts among future healthcare providers in Egypt. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 895 students from five universities, including public, private, and Al-Azhar medical schools. An online self-reported questionnaire was used to assess the students’ understanding of climate change, its health impacts, and their perceptions regarding its integration into the medical curriculum and the role of healthcare professionals in combating climate change. Data were analyzed using appropriate descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Over half of the participants (55.1%) reported the inclusion of climate change health impacts in their curriculum. Climate change knowledge, perceptions, and health impacts had mean scores of 2.39 ± 1.09 (out of 4), 30.9 ± 4.8 (out of 41), and 8.54 ± 2.98 (out of 12), respectively. The inclusion of climate change content in curricula had no significant impact on these scores (p value = > 0.05). Nonetheless, two-thirds of participants (66.7%) agreed that climate change health impacts should be included in the curriculum, and 71.4% expressed interest in learning more about it. Conclusion: The study reveals a significant gap in the integration of climate change health impacts into the medical curriculum in Egypt. These findings emphasize the need for improved integration of climate change education to better prepare future healthcare providers.