NEW DELHI: As more than 4.4 billion people, over half of humanity, now live in urban areas, a figure projected to rise to nearly 70 per cent by 2050, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday called on national and city leaders to transform urban areas into engines of health, equity and sustainability.
Making the call on the occasion of World Cities Day, the WHO said that in cities, health, inequality, environment and economy intersect in powerful and dramatic ways, creating both complex risks and unique opportunities for progress.
While health challenges loom in all urban settings, the worst health outcomes are often concentrated in slums and informal settlements, where residents endure unsafe housing, inadequate sanitation, food insecurity, and increasing exposure to floods and heat.
Today, 1.1 billion people live in such conditions, a number expected to triple by 2050, it said.
On the occasion, the WHO launched a new guide for decision-makers, Taking a Strategic Approach to Urban Health, which provides concrete ideas to usher in a new era of urban health action.
The guide responds to the growing demand for integrated solutions that address health challenges and promote health more broadly in urban settings. It is the first comprehensive framework of its kind to help governments plan urban health strategically, integrating evidence into policy and practice.
“This is a moment for decision-makers at every level to act together,” said Jeremy Farrar, Assistant Director-General for Health Promotion, Disease Prevention and Care at WHO. “The guide gives national and municipal leaders, planners, partners and communities a framework to work together, across sectors and scales, to build fairer, healthier and more resilient futures.”
Urban residents everywhere face multiple, overlapping risks — from air pollution and unsafe transport to poor housing, noise and climate hazards.
Air pollution alone kills around seven million people annually, and nearly every city dweller breathes air that fails to meet WHO air quality guideline values. Dense populations heighten risks for infectious outbreaks such as COVID-19 and dengue, while limited access to green spaces increases the risk of non-communicable diseases.
Urban environments have now become the dominant day-to-day influence on human health, while also driving global challenges such as climate change, resource scarcity and growing inequality.
“This makes them not only the front line for today’s health challenges, but the greatest hope for transformative change,” the WHO said.
Strategic action on urban health can foster equity and create resilient, attractive urban environments that are conducive to economic development, environmental sustainability and better lives. People and businesses increasingly seek environments that offer safety, liveability and opportunity.
“Cities are key to advancing public health,” said Dr Etienne Krug, Director of Health Determinants, Prevention and Promotion. “This guide offers governments a roadmap to act strategically, making operational links with other major global policy issues like climate change, transport, digital transformation and migration.”
The guide emphasises that health is not the responsibility of one sector alone, nor is it limited to the decisions of city officials. From clean air and safe housing to active mobility and digital access, to broader financing and regulatory action, decisions made every day by urban authorities across multiple sectors and scales affect the health of billions.
Taking strategic action means aligning these choices to build healthier and fairer futures, where urban systems work together to advance equity, sustainability and resilience, the world health body said.
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.
The WHO called on municipal and national leaders to adopt a more strategic approach to urban health, recognising the crucial role that local and national governments play in creating coherent health action that aligns with other societal goals — making urban areas not only more liveable, but also more just and sustainable.
