Planetary health in general practice: a cross-sectional survey in France

Background In 2019, a global appeal was launched by WONCA that invited GPs to take action for planetary health. Four years after this call, what are French GPs doing to promote planetary health?

Aim To describe GPs’ opinions about this subject and pro-planetary health actions in general practice and to evaluate their knowledge of planetary health.

Design & setting An online survey of GPs, locums and medical interns in France.

Method The survey was sent by e-mail to French general practice networks. The responses were statistically analysed, and the demographic data were analysed via descriptive statistics.

Results The 974 participants placed significant importance on ecology in their personal lives (mean=7.1/10) and were relatively aware of the environmental impact of health care. In their professional lives, they placed less importance on ecology (mean=5.80/10). Only 23.1% (n=225) reported being trained during their medical education. During consultations regarding both health and environmental benefits, the most frequently given advice involved direct benefits to patients' health. A lack of time (n=676, 69.4%) was the first barrier to integrating planetary health into practice, and the second barrier was a lack of knowledge (n=606, 62.2%).

Conclusion GPs are sensitive to environmental issues, but they are more detached from these issues in their professional lives. It is crucial to strengthen prevention efforts and integrate environmental considerations into training programmes and health policies to create the conditions necessary for this change in practice.