Building climate resilience and mitigating the impact of climate change on cancer care: strategies and solutions for low and middle income countries.

Abstract

Climate change poses an enormous threat to human health. It increases exposure to risk factors related to cancer while simultaneously threatening effective cancer care in the face of overstrained resources and natural hazards. Low and middle income countries (LMICs) are disproportionately affected by the effects of climate change which further limits their ability to respond effectively to this growing threat. Measures to build resilience and mitigate the impact warrant multi-sectoral local and global collaborations. Mitigation strategies positively impact cancer control by reducing exposure to risk factors. The current pace of climate change and the rising rates of cancer incidence in LMICs calls for urgent, effective, evidence-based global efforts toward protecting the health and wellbeing of our planet. This paper discusses strategies to build climate resilience in healthcare and measures to mitigate the emissions of oncology care in LMICs.