Preparing Healthcare for Climate Change

摘要

Extreme weather events, while not new, challenge the physical and operational infrastructure that supports our healthcare system-and yet are often minimized and treated as local problems.While the acute impacts of natural disasters-casualties, damaged infrastructure, disruptions to people's daily lives, and negative impacts for businesses-are top of mind in the wake of natural disasters, extreme weather events also exacerbate chronic health conditions such as asthma, expand the range of infectious diseases, and have a negative impact on mental health.1 Over the long term, these events may also trigger persistent health risks that will develop long after the event occurred. Perhaps synthesizing and analyzing patient data with climate data will be the key that unlocks the answers on how our healthcare delivery can prepare for and better serve our population as these changes take place.