Strategic urban health action to unlock healthy, prosperous, and resilient societies

On World Cities Day, the World Health Organisation (WHO) called on national and city leaders to transform urban areas into engines of health, equity and sustainability.

More than 4.4 billion people lived in urban areas, a figure projected to rise to nearly 70% by 2050. In cities, health, inequality, environment and economy intersected in powerful ways, creating complex risks and opportunities.

The worst health outcomes were concentrated in slums and informal settlements, where 1.1 billion people endured unsafe housing, inadequate sanitation, food insecurity and rising exposure to floods and heat, a number expected to treble by 2050.

With the guide launched on World Cities Day, taking a strategic approach to urban health, WHO provided concrete ideas for a new era of urban health action. It responded to the demand for integrated solutions and offered the first comprehensive framework to help governments plan urban health strategically.

"Taking a Strategic Approach to Urban Health" outlines practical steps for governments to:

• understand the complexity of urban systems and how they shape health and equity;

• identify entry points for action, recognising opportunities to build urban health across policy and practice agendas in other sectors and issues;

• strengthen the means of implementation for urban health, including governance, financing, data, analytics, innovation, capacity-strengthening, partnerships and participation; and

• develop comprehensive urban health strategies at both national and city levels.

Alongside the Guide, WHO launched the first three modules of an Urban Health E-learning course, hosted by the WHO Academy, to strengthen capacities for collaborative work in urban contexts.

Source: World Health Organisation