Identifying challenges and future directions of flood hazards mitigation strategies in health facilities: a systematic literature review.

BACKGROUND

Floods, due to their extensive direct and indirect impacts, pose a significant threat to critical infrastructure and public health. Health facilities (HFs), given their heightened vulnerability to this natural hazard, require robust preparedness measures and effective mitigation strategies. However, there is a lack of comprehensive studies that systematically address mitigation strategies for floods in HFs. The aim of this research was to systematically identify and evaluate various strategies for flood mitigation to HFs.

METHODS

A systematic review was conducted by searching the PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases. The search strategy included relevant keywords related to floods and HFs, combined using Boolean operators (AND, OR), and covered the period from 2000 to 2024. Thematic content analysis was used for data synthesis. The review process followed the PRISMA guidelines, and the quality of the included studies was assessed using the STROBE checklist.

RESULTS

Out of an initial pool of 1,270 articles, 11 high-quality studies were included in the final analysis. The flood hazard mitigation strategies in HFs were analyzed 8 main categories and 24 subcategories. The main categories included infrastructure management, knowledge enhancement, awareness, performance, resource provision, technology and communication, social participation, planning, risk assessment, and psychosocial support.

CONCLUSION

In this systematic review, 8 main categories and 24 subcategories of flood mitigation strategies for HFs were identified. The findings highlight the need for a multifaceted approach including engineering, managerial, social, and technological interventions to strengthen health system resilience. These insights provide a foundation for improving flood mitigation and preparedness in HFs, especially in disaster-prone regions.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12873-025-01339-0.