Making a Planetary Health Case for Whole Person Health

Whole person health care offers a number of potential benefits including better health outcomes for patients, decreased health care utilization, and lower overall costs of care. With its emphasis on health promotion and disease prevention, whole person health also has great potential to help align health care with planetary health by decreasing both direct and indirect environmental impacts associated with conventional medicine. In addition, by emphasizing plant-based and plant-forward nutrition, active transportation, mindfulness, and nature connection, whole person care is poised to contribute to the societal transformation needed to overcome the planetary health challenges we face. This essay, in response to the recent article Making the Case for Whole Person Health, provides an overview of the bi-directional connections between health care and planetary health, and emphasizes how whole person care offers a pathway forward for the health care industry that is better for both people and the planet.