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Background <p>Climate change is seen by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the greatest threat to global health in the twenty-first century. Ethiopia, being one of Africa’s low-Income countries, also suffers with the severe consequences of climate change causing loss of human life. Climate change affects health significantly and therefore, health professionals have the responsibility of being on the front line in the effort to protect health from climate change. In this study, we assessed the knowledge and attitude of medical students in Ethiopia on the health effects of climate change and their perceptions on their preparedness to tackle this.</p> Methods <p>The study is a cross-sectional, quantitative study that assessed the knowledge, curriculum exposure, and preparedness perceptions of medical students across Ethiopia towards climate change and its effects on the health of a population. A national cross-sectional survey was conducted among 988 medical students from purposively selected 25 medical schools across Ethiopia between December 2023 and February 2024 using an online questionnaire. Participants were recruited using a non-probability convenience sampling approach through online survey distribution across multiple institutions. Binary logistic regression and multivariable logistic regression analysis were used to determine association. Significant association was found at a <i>p</i> value of less than 0.05.</p> Results <p>A total of 988 medical students participated in this study. Among the 988 participants, 55.5% were female and 44.5% were male. 98.0% reported having heard about climate change before. Among the participants, 90.5% (894) agreed they believe climate change is real while 1.4% did not believe climate change is real. Age (AOR = 0.854, 95% CI 0.759–0.962), level of education (AOR = 0.885, 95% CI 0.810–0.966), prior awareness of climate change (AOR = 2.844, 95% CI 1.077–7.507), and curriculum exposure (AOR = 1.783, 95% CI 1.346–2.362) were independently associated with knowledge regarding climate change.</p> Conclusion <p>Our study found that more than half of the medical students (51.6%) reported that climate change or global warming had not been addressed within their university curriculum. The findings suggest that consideration may be given to strengthening climate-health content within undergraduate medical curricula.</p>

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Climate change knowledge, preparedness perceptions and curriculum exposure among Ethiopian medical students, a multicenter cross sectional survey

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年7月9日

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  • Selamawit Kassahun Aweke,
  • Nathnael Mathewos Asele,
  • Amanuel Tadesse Memhiru,
  • Dawit Tesfagiorgis Mengesha,
  • Yidnekachew Mogessie,
  • Laltu Megerssa Negasa,
  • Abigael Abiy Mesfin

摘要

Background

Climate change is seen by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the greatest threat to global health in the twenty-first century. Ethiopia, being one of Africa’s low-Income countries, also suffers with the severe consequences of climate change causing loss of human life. Climate change affects health significantly and therefore, health professionals have the responsibility of being on the front line in the effort to protect health from climate change. In this study, we assessed the knowledge and attitude of medical students in Ethiopia on the health effects of climate change and their perceptions on their preparedness to tackle this.

Methods

The study is a cross-sectional, quantitative study that assessed the knowledge, curriculum exposure, and preparedness perceptions of medical students across Ethiopia towards climate change and its effects on the health of a population. A national cross-sectional survey was conducted among 988 medical students from purposively selected 25 medical schools across Ethiopia between December 2023 and February 2024 using an online questionnaire. Participants were recruited using a non-probability convenience sampling approach through online survey distribution across multiple institutions. Binary logistic regression and multivariable logistic regression analysis were used to determine association. Significant association was found at a p value of less than 0.05.

Results

A total of 988 medical students participated in this study. Among the 988 participants, 55.5% were female and 44.5% were male. 98.0% reported having heard about climate change before. Among the participants, 90.5% (894) agreed they believe climate change is real while 1.4% did not believe climate change is real. Age (AOR = 0.854, 95% CI 0.759–0.962), level of education (AOR = 0.885, 95% CI 0.810–0.966), prior awareness of climate change (AOR = 2.844, 95% CI 1.077–7.507), and curriculum exposure (AOR = 1.783, 95% CI 1.346–2.362) were independently associated with knowledge regarding climate change.

Conclusion

Our study found that more than half of the medical students (51.6%) reported that climate change or global warming had not been addressed within their university curriculum. The findings suggest that consideration may be given to strengthening climate-health content within undergraduate medical curricula.