Special Issue: Climate Crisis and Primary Health Care.

In September 2021, Family Practice joined with over 200 medical journals publishing a joint editorial which called climate change “the greatest threat to public health.”1 In 2023, we have decided that it is time to do more. As far as we know this is the first ever special edition on Climate Crisis in a Family Medicine journal: however given current trajectories for planetary warming, it is unlikely to be the last. Primary care clinicians working in 2023 are on the frontline, dealing with the healthcare impacts of record-breaking flooding, wildfires, and heatwaves. The physical and mental health impacts of Australian bushfires are explored in this issue in both older adults2 and new mothers3 with an emphasis on learnings and opportunities for primary care. The climate crisis has specific impacts on rural communities that are explored in an international review which also outlines key issues for healthcare utilization.4 Further, the disproportionate impact of the climate crisis for socioeconomically ­disadvantaged groups is explored by Blane et al.5 and medical-legal partnerships are highlighted by Anderson et al. for their role in mitigating climate impacts in disadvantaged populations.6