Dr Vanessa Harris is an infectious diseases physician and Assistant Professor at the Department of Global Health, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam (UvA). Her research focuses on diarrheal diseases in children under the age of five, investigating environmental impacts on disease risk, prevention and vaccine performance in high-risk settings, and indirect effects of having diarrheal disease, like antibiotic use and the development of antimicrobial resistance.
The ESMH spoke with Dr Harris ahead of the STOA workshop “Planetary Health: A Critical Discipline for the Future” taking place on 14 January 2026 in the European Parliament.
Can you tell us what we mean by the concept of planetary health?
Planetary boundaries as a concept were formalised by the Lancet Commission on Planetary Health in 2015, recognising that human well-being now and in the future is dependent on the stability and resilience of ecological and biophysical systems. When you safeguard those systems, you’re also safeguarding human health, and when human activities have detrimental impacts on these planetary boundaries, this will have knock on impacts to human health.
Why is planetary health a particularly important area of research?
Vanessa Harris: It sometimes helps to use concrete examples. I study diarrheal disease and usually we think that a child dies from diarrheal disease due to simple things like dehydration – most children could have been saved by access to vaccines, IV fluids and healthcare. However, planetary health forces us to think about more systematic risks for such a child. Diarrheal disease is waterborne, and climate change will alter precipitation events, flooding and drought. This will impact the seasonality of diarrheal pathogens and their spread to children. But climate change will also impact the agricultural system feeding the child, drought will decrease crop yields and place this child at risk for malnutrition, which, in turn, makes them more susceptible to diarrheal disease.
Ultimately, policies will save more lives if they are able to tackle these larger root causes. This requires conceptualising policies beyond simply just health systems, because bigger results may be possible in terms of protecting humans from disease outbreaks if you take these planetary boundaries into account. That’s a very human-centric way of thinking about it, but you can also think about it from a planetary perspective, that in protecting the stability of the Earth’s biophysical and ecological systems, we protect all life on earth.
You are the coordinator of the Horizon Europe project SPRINGS that is investigating the connections between climate change and diarrheal pathogens. Can you please tell us more about the project’s activities and goals?
Vanessa Harris: In SPRINGS we are trying to understand how climate change is impacting water quality and quantity and thereby changing the behaviour of viruses, bacteria, and parasites that cause diarrheal disease now and in the future. We study those associations in order to project estimates of future disease burden across four case studies in Ghana, Romania, Tanzania and Italy. We then work with policymakers, specifically in Romania and Tanzania, to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of planetary health interventions and prioritise those that can prevent diarrheal disease burden in the future.
When looking at these interventions, we also consider those not classically covered in the health sectors, to have a really cross-sector perspective that considers planetary boundaries and that can have co-benefits for health, water systems, agriculture, etc. For example, reforestation can improve water quality downstream, or more efficient sewage systems can reduce faecal CO2 production. These possible interventions could provide more long-term benefits than, for example, a classic investment in a vaccine. That requires getting policymakers from all different sectors to talk to each other when considering these investments.
The SPRINGS project is one of five projects that make up the Horizon Europe Planetary Health Cluster. Can you please tell us more about the Cluster?
Vanessa Harris: The Planetary Health Cluster brings together five projects that all work on the impact of environmental degradation on human health and within the scope of this planetary health structure. We have working groups within the Cluster, which for example includes one working on common approaches to data. This covers translating science to policy, communication and dissemination, and data methodologies.
In the cluster, we exchange knowledge and implementation frameworks, aiming to establish synergies across the projects and thematic fields. Such a collaboration allows for further novel ideas and analogous transfer, needed in the field of highly interdisciplinary research.
It’s incredible to work with the other projects in the cluster because we learn from each other. The TULIP project is also examining water issues, but from the perspective of synergies between climate change, plastic pollution and antimicrobial resistance. PLANET4HEALTH has four case studies investigating vector-borne diseases, air pollution, food safety and mental well-being.
MOSAIC uses Open Science practices around access to data, infrastructure and tools that provide integrated health approaches in East Africa and the Amazon. GoGreen Next looks to support cities and regions to achieve their climate targets by implementing novel nature-based approaches.
These projects all provide examples of how using a planetary health approach can protect human health and well-being while also protecting the state of the Earth’s natural systems. They aim to provide evidence that can support policymakers in understanding and distilling abstract concepts into tangible choices.
The STOA Panel of the European Parliament is hosting a workshop on planetary health – what should policymakers be particularly aware for building planetary resilience and ensure the wellbeing of current and future generations?
Vanessa Harris: What emerges from our cluster is that prevention is far more cost-effective than response –adaptation has limits. Therefore, we need more preventive actions that position interconnectedness between the health of humans and ecosystems. In addition, social inequities amplify the health risks stemming from environmental degradation, and these will be further exacerbated due to the disproportionate vulnerability of specific countries and population groups.
I hope that the workshop can be about taking the abstract principles of planetary health and making them usable for policymakers, as our research can provide real examples of the connections between health and planetary boundaries, including how social inequities and vulnerabilities pertain to their work. Then, in return, this can inform our own research, on what we need to produce for policymakers to help them incorporate these concepts and needs into policy.
Useful link:
• STOA workshop: “Planetary Health: A Critical Discipline for the Future”