As the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season gets underway, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has issued an urgent call to governments across the Americas to revisit their disaster contingency frameworks and ramp up readiness measures. The goal is to shield regional health systems from cascading harms triggered by hurricanes, flash floods, landslides and other extreme weather events that routinely hit the hemisphere.
Current long-range forecasts suggest the 2026 storm season will be less active than the unusually intense periods recorded in recent years, but PAHO has stressed that this milder projection does not eliminate risk. Even one single powerful hurricane, the organization notes, can upend routine health care delivery and create severe, widespread threats to public health that outlast the storm itself.
“Extreme hydrometeorological events remain a constant threat across the Americas,” stated Leonardo Hernández, director of PAHO’s Emergency Operations Unit. “Preparing health systems before an emergency strikes is non-negotiable if we want to save lives, keep critical care accessible to all those who need it, and cut down on the disproportionate harm these events inflict on the most vulnerable populations.”
Beyond the immediate destruction of critical health infrastructure and the interruption of essential services like vaccinations and chronic disease management, hurricanes and subsequent flooding create a cascade of secondary public health risks. These include elevated rates of waterborne illnesses such as cholera and typhoid, increased transmission of vector-borne diseases spread by mosquitoes, higher rates of respiratory infections from damp, crowded post-storm living conditions, a surge in storm-related injuries, and long-term negative mental health outcomes for affected communities. The public health emergencies sparked by extreme weather also add unplanned, overwhelming strain to health systems that are already operating at or beyond capacity in many parts of the region.
To address these risks, PAHO is urging all at-risk countries to verify that every level of their health system has up-to-date contingency plans, fully trained emergency response personnel, and clear cross-agency coordination mechanisms in place. These systems are critical to ensuring essential health services can continue operating during a storm and recover quickly in its aftermath. The organization also recommends expanding disease surveillance infrastructure and community-based monitoring networks, which enable early detection and rapid response to the unique public health risks that follow extreme weather events.
According to forecast data from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season is projected to see below-normal activity, largely driven by the formation of El Niño conditions in the Pacific. El Niño, defined by above-average sea surface temperatures across the central and eastern Pacific, typically creates wind patterns that suppress the formation of tropical cyclones in the Atlantic basin. However, PAHO points out that El Niño also reshapes rainfall and temperature trends across the Americas, increasing the chance of extreme events including droughts, intense downpours, flooding and landslides across different subregions of the hemisphere, even when hurricane activity is low.
Preparedness takes on added urgency in 2026 due to the region’s ongoing epidemiological context, PAHO says. Countries across the Americas are already responding to ongoing outbreaks of measles and yellow fever, and must maintain readiness for other emerging and re-emerging public health threats. When a climate emergency overlaps with existing infectious disease outbreaks, health systems are quickly stretched beyond their breaking point, crippling their ability to meet the sudden surge in demand for care during and after an extreme weather event.
To support national governments in their preparedness work, PAHO will host a virtual regional readiness meeting on June 11, bringing together representatives from health ministries and national disaster risk management agencies from every country in the Americas. The gathering will focus on updating and strengthening protocols for health service management, epidemiological surveillance, and emergency operations, while integrating key lessons identified during previous extreme weather and public health events.
The meeting will also advance the implementation of the World Health Organization’s 2025 National Health Emergency Preparedness, Alert and Response Framework. This global framework promotes a multi-hazard approach to emergency readiness built around five core functional systems: collaborative cross-agency surveillance, community-centered protection, safe and scalable acute care, equitable access to medical countermeasures, and integrated emergency coordination.
Looking beyond the June meeting, PAHO says it will continue its long-term work with member states to strengthen national emergency preparedness plans and intersectoral coordination mechanisms at both the national and local levels. This ongoing support is designed to ensure that countries can launch timely, effective responses when extreme weather events or other public health emergencies strike, ultimately saving lives and reducing harm to vulnerable communities.