Climate Change Poses Growing Threat to Hospitals WorldwideClimate Change Poses Growing Threat to Hospitals Worldwide Extreme weather events and rising temperatures are putting healthcare facilities at increasing risk. Hospitals Facing Closures and Damage A 2023 report by XDI found that climate change has increased the risk of harm to hospitals by 41% between 1990 and 2020. Coastal hospitals are particularly vulnerable to flooding, with hurricanes and storms posing significant risks. For example, in 2023, Hurricane Idalia caused the closure of four hospitals and eight emergency rooms in the Tampa Bay area due to potential flooding. Extreme Heat a Major Concern Scorching temperatures and heat waves are also putting a strain on hospitals. In 2023, extreme heat in Arizona resulted in power outages and an influx of patients with heat-related illnesses. Research has shown that heat-related emergency room visits increase significantly when temperatures reach certain levels. Increasing Demand for Care Climate change is predicted to worsen more than half of known human pathogenic diseases, expanding the range of fungal infections and increasing the risk of viruses and mosquito-borne diseases. Extreme heat is also likely to send more people to the hospital with heat-related illnesses. This increased demand for care will put further strain on healthcare systems. Resilience Measures Needed To mitigate these risks, hospitals must implement resilience measures, such as: * Establishing reliable water supplies * Implementing backup power systems * Strengthening infrastructure to withstand extreme weather * Training staff on emergency response procedures Looking Ahead As climate change continues to impact healthcare, it is imperative that hospital leadership teams worldwide prioritize climate resilience. By taking proactive steps, hospitals can protect their infrastructure, ensure the safety of patients and staff, and continue to provide essential healthcare services in the face of changing environmental conditions.
In August 2023, time was running out for healthcare workers along Florida’s Gulf Coast. Hospital administrators and staff had to decide how to prepare themselves, their patients, and their facilities as Hurricane Idalia—a Category 4—approached the coastline.
Faced with the possibility of a six-foot storm surge that could flood streets and possibly overwhelm lower levels of hospitals, four hospitals and eight freestanding emergency rooms in the Tampa Bay metro area were closed. The hospitals transported patients by ambulance to safer areas.
Within a month, health care leaders in two other major U.S. cities would face similar tests. On the West Coast, historic rains caused power outages at a Los Angeles hospital, while in New York, torrential rains caused a power outage and electrical damage at a Brooklyn hospital — both incidents leading to emergency evacuations.
The recent hospital closures in the United States illustrate a larger trend that is already underway. Human-caused climate change has increased the risk of harm to hospitals by 41% between 1990 and 2020, according to a December 2023 report published by XDI, or Cross Dependency Initiative, an Australian climate risk data company.
Thousands of healthcare facilities around the world are suffering from the effects of climate change. Experts predict that this trend will only worsen in the coming decades, as extreme weather increases the pressure on hospital infrastructure while simultaneously increasing the demand for care.
Warnings from experts
In a May 2024 report, the United Nations Population Fund estimated that nearly 1,500 hospitals are located in low-lying coastal areas of Latin America and the Caribbean that are already weathering life-threatening storms and floods. More than 80% of hospitals in Aruba, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Guyana and Suriname are located in these danger zones.
Hundreds of hospitals across the U.S. are at risk of flooding, according to a 2022 study by Harvard researchers. Along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, hospitals in Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania were at the highest risk of flooding from a Category 2 hurricane.
On the other side of the world, floods and landslides forced 12 health facilities in five southern Thailand provinces to close their doors in 2023. The year before, devastating floods in Pakistan left at least 1,460 health facilities unable to function, about 10% of the country’s total.
The XDI researchers looked at climate risks to around 200,000 hospitals from floods, fires and cyclones. They estimate that by the end of this century, one in 12 hospitals worldwide is at risk of partial or complete closure due to extreme weather.
Some regions are more vulnerable than others. The report estimated that more than 5,800 hospitals in South Asia alone — a region that includes India, the world’s most populous country — are at high risk of closing if global warming reaches 4.3 degrees Celsius.
Other regions are not immune, however. More than half of hospitals in the Central African Republic and more than a quarter of hospitals in the Philippines and Nepal are said to suffer the same fate.
The pressure is increased by extreme heat
The summer of 2023 was the hottest on record. Scorching temperatures brought deadly heat waves and wildfires that tore through forests and surrounding towns and villages — all with potential consequences for human health and the hospitals and clinics where people seek care.
“The Northern Hemisphere has just experienced a summer of extremes, with repeated heatwaves fueling devastating wildfires, damaging health, disrupting daily life and taking a lasting toll on the environment,” said Petteri Taalas, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization, in a statement.
That summer, for example, extreme heat in Arizona strained power grids and led to an influx of people needing medical care due to heat stress.
A 2021 study found that heat-related emergency room visits in Taiwan increased by 50% on days when the wet-bulb temperature (which represents both heat and humidity) was at least 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit. At that level, it’s harder for sweat to evaporate and therefore harder for people to cool themselves.
Looking ahead to future risks
In the coming decades, healthcare infrastructure will come under increasing pressure from the impacts of extreme weather and rising temperatures: power outages, hospital closures and building damage.
At the same time, the demand for care may increase. Climate change is expected to worsen more than half of known human pathogenic diseases in the next 25 years, expanding the range of fungal infections and increasing the risk of viruses and mosquito-borne diseases. Meanwhile, extreme heat is likely to send more people to the hospital.
Making major changes to the way hospitals operate may seem daunting, but institutions can implement adjustments on a small scale and create solutions that meet their specific needs.
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An example of this approach can be found in Vietnam. Whether due to drought, flooding, or creeping saltwater infiltration, about half of all hospitals in the country lack a reliable source of water. As a result, patients often have to bring their own water. Faced with this major barrier to care, three rural hospitals in Vietnam have embarked on projects to become more climate-resilient by addressing water availability. Each facility has found innovative ways to obtain more water using solutions such as rainwater harvesting and storage systems, saltwater filtration, and improved infrastructure to capture nearby river flows.
“Unfortunately, we can expect that climate change will increasingly threaten the water supply of healthcare facilities across Vietnam. Therefore, it is critical to act quickly with adaptation measures,” said Angela Pratt, WHO Representative in Vietnam, in a press release.
As the impacts of climate change expose healthcare systems to increased levels of risk, it is imperative that hospital leadership teams worldwide begin planning for climate resilience across infrastructure and workforce to protect healthcare on a changing planet.
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This article from Yale Climate Connections is published here as part of the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now (CCN). It was written by Kaitlin Sullivan, a freelance journalist covering health, science and the environment, was produced in partnership with Energy Innovation and the Aspen Global Change Institute. Both organizations are Yale Climate Connections content-sharing partners.
Publisher’s Note: The opinions expressed here by Impakter.com columnists are their own and not those of Impakter.com. — On the cover photo: An ambulance drives through floodwaters in Seminole County, Florida, during Tropical Storm Fay on August 21, 2008. Cover photo credits: Barry Bahler / FEMA.
