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Enhancing Health System Resilience: An Operational Imperative for Climate-Adaptive Healthcare

Document Type : Letter to the Editor

Authors
Ali Ramezankhani 1
Mansoure Alipour-Anbarani 2
1 Professor, Health Promotion Research Center and Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Safety, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Health Education and Health Promotion, Faculty of Health, Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences, Sabzevar, Iran.
10.22034/hp.2026.588532.1085
Abstract
Climate change is increasingly recognized as a critical determinant of health system performance, disrupting healthcare delivery through extreme weather events, infrastructure instability, and evolving disease patterns. Despite growing awareness, the operational integration of climate resilience into routine health system governance remains limited. We propose the Climate-Adaptive Clinical Governance Model (CACGM), a concise four-domain framework encompassing climate intelligence integration, resilient infrastructure, workforce preparedness, and interdisciplinary governance. By embedding anticipatory adaptation within institutional planning and service delivery, CACGM supports a transition from reactive crisis response toward proactive, climate-resilient healthcare systems capable of sustaining quality care under environmental stress.
Keywords
Adaptive governance
Climate change
Climate-resilient health systems
Clinical governance
Health system resilience