Our global climate is changing—increasing the frequency, intensity, and duration of extreme-weather related disasters—with direct consequences on human health. These extreme weather-related events are not only environmental crises—they are health system crises. Cancer care—from prevention to diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, and end-of-life care—is particularly affected by extreme weather events because of complex, time-sensitive, infrastructure-dependent, multidisciplinary, and resource-intense care. Although these events affect us all, disruptions are particularly impactful on those who live in settings where underlying community and health resources are limited. Therefore, preparedness and resilience planning specific to cancer care is crucial. Existing evidence-informed strategies to prepare and enhance resilience across clinical, institutional, and policy domains include climate resilience integration in clinical training and practice, adaptation of care delivery infrastructure and operations, knowledge and review of local climate vulnerabilities, and strengthened partnerships with community organizations. As extreme weather events increasingly threaten cancer care delivery, proactive, coordinated efforts by oncology professionals, health systems, and policy are essential to ensure high-quality care delivery.
Han et al. (Mon,) studied this question.