Working in partnership to improve health and wellbeing in urban settings

This event is jointly led by the Secretariat of the UN Non-communicable Diseases Task Force the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO), and UN-Habitat.

Multiple factors influence health. Most are outside the health sector. In cities and regions, planning and design play central roles in the prevention of disease and in fostering healthier environments.

The Healthy Cities initiative was conceived with the goal of placing health high on the social and political agenda of cities by promoting health, equity and sustainable development through innovation and multisectoral change. Healthy Cities and local governments have gained new attention and significant prominence in the context of the implementation of the SDGs. Healthy Cities is a strategic vehicle for health development and well-being in urban settings.

Deliberate action in planning cities and territories can contribute directly or indirectly in improving health and wellbeing, for example implementing population-based evidence-based measures to improve air pollution, reduce tobacco and alcohol use, and improve access to a healthy diet and physical activity.

By 2050, 70% of the world’s population will live in urban spaces. As many have yet to be built, there is an opportunity to encourage urban designers and policy makers to develop cities and towns that promote health, wellbeing and happiness and address risk factors– and as a result are more economically productive.

Together, UN-Habitat, WHO and other members of the UN NCD Task Force aim to support Member States position health at the center of urban development, through creating enabling environment for health and wellbeing including effective systems and processes, and maximizing the impact of existing tools.

The UN-Habitat Strategic Plan 2020-2025 emphasizes: (i) the need for UN-Habitat to leverage partnerships with local and regional governments, and development partners; and (ii) that sustainable development means addressing basic human rights of the millions of marginalized urban dwellers living in poverty and subject to marginalization. The next UN-Habitat strategic plan is expected to have health as a strategic priority.

WHO and UN-Habitat work together to develop resources that integrate health and wellbeing in city planning, tools that quantify the health and socioeconomic impact of planning and designing urban areas from a health perspective, capturing successful initiatives, and developing training material on urban planning and health.

The Task Force has a dedicated workstream that drives forward action on urban health.

Healthy Cities was introduced in the Eastern Mediterranean Region in 1990. WHO/ EMRO and UN-Habitat’s Regional Office for Arab States are now incorporating urban and green indicators in WHO/EMRO’s Healthy Cities programme.