Health System Resilience to Climate Change: Frameworks, Challenges, and Strategic Interventions

Abstract

Background:  Climate change has now become one of the most significant public health challenges in the world, exacerbating environmental risks and straining health systems worldwide. Extreme weather patterns, rising temperatures and changing patterns of disease disturb the provision of healthcare, destroy infrastructure and create new health inequities, especially in low and middle-income countries. It is thus important to increase the resilience of health systems so that essential services can continue to be delivered to safeguard vulnerable populations.

Aim:  The research set out to review the effects of climate change on health systems and outline important frameworks, problems, and strategic interventions to create climate-resilient healthcare systems.

Methods:   Peer-reviewed articles, policy documents, and institutional reports on the topic published in 2005-2025 were used to conduct a narrative literature review. Predefined keywords were used to search major databases such as PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar on the topic of climate change, health systems, and resilience. Relevant literature was filtered, thematically classified and synthesized around the following domains: infrastructure, surveillance, the capacity of the workforce, governance and financing.

Results:  The review revealed areas of concern that affect climate resilience, such as infrastructure preparedness, the surveillance of diseases that are sensitive to climate, workforce preparedness, governance, and sustainable financing. It was observed that flooding and heatwaves have a considerable impact on health services and burden patients. Facilities having robust infrastructure and backup facilities had low rates of service disruption. The climate information incorporated in the surveillance systems enhanced the effectiveness in detecting early outbreaks and response efficiency. Multispectral coordination and workforce training were closely related to increase emergency preparedness and mortality reduction.

Conclusion: Climate-resilient health systems need to be based on a multifaceted systems-level approach that encompasses infrastructure fortification, climate-conscious surveillance, human capacity development, proper government, and feasible funding. To increase adaptive capacity and protect the health of the populations due to the rise of climate variability, proactive investment, multisector collaboration, and policy integration are necessary.