Climate change resilience framework for health systems and hospitals (LIFE RESYSTAL)

Climate change strikes at the very core of the healthcare sector’s mission to keep people healthy. Individual hospitals and entire healthcare systems are affected operationally, financially, and structurally by the rising frequency of extreme weather events. Even distant climate events can affect the health of local communities, e.g., smoke from wildfires can create significant and concentrated air pollution causing wide-reaching health impacts.

Our health is intrinsically linked to the environments we live in, climate change therefore directly impacts the health of patients and communities. As climate change worsens, more and more people will face the health consequences of wildfires, hurricanes, and floods. Forced migration from failed crops, droughts, and the resulting political unrest will also undermine human health, which must be at the heart of our climate change adaptation policies.

The LIFE RESYSTAL project addresses gaps in the European health systems’ climate resilience. This project supports improved climate vulnerability assessment of health systems as well as an improved understanding of the interdependencies between different infrastructures (e.g., transport, energy networks, telecommunications, and clinical services), to ensure a more secure and resilient health service provision. The project also supports investment decisions that consider and encourage climate change adaptation.