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Urban Health: Overview
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| | Why is urban health an issue? And what can be done about it? |  | Urban Health means putting the needs of people and communities at the heart of the urban planning process to ensure better accessto urbanservices which improve human health for all. Except in a few instances, urban health problems are not markedly different from those in rural areas, but their solutions are quite different. The key difference revolves in accommodating the higher density of people spread over large areas. Thus, urban health goes well beyond improved access to health services. | | Most important, the complementary role of interventions outside the health care system is fundamental, especially those of the infrastructure sectors: water supply, sanitation, waste management, transport, urban development, and energy. For example, some of the top health problems globally, such as diarrheal and respiratory diseases, have their solutions through urban services like improved water, sanitation, and household ventilation. Urban health also means increased attention to vector-related diseases like malaria and dengue fever, traditionally rural, but which have been urbanizing as cities continue to grow. By 2015, half the population of the developing world will be living in cities and is expected to double in the next 30 years. By 2030 these cities can be expected to triple their land area. Urban health challenges to improve the quality of life for the urban poor are indeed daunting. Urban health is based on core healthy cities principles of equity, intersectoral cooperation, community involvement and sustainability. | The challenges of urban health can be briefly summarized in terms of the overarching questions: |
- How to organize and prioritize interventions for better health in the complex urban environment.
- How to ensure better access to health services and outcomes for all.
- How to integrate interventions across sectors to improve the health outcomes of the poor.
- How to find tools and resources to measure the impacts of existing and new interventions.
- How to identify entry points where health components can be viably introduced into urban development projects.
| | For example... |  In one country, a Water Project to provide 500 households with access to clean water was accompanied by a small sub-component on handwashing. This US$60,000
sub-component focused on educating communities, particularly mothers with young children about the added health benefits of handwashing. While representing only .05% of the investment, the handwashing component is responsible for gains in health outcomes that would not have been accomplished with the provision of water services alone. |
| | The goal of this site is to provide multi-sectoral programs and teams with access to resources they can use in designing, implementing and improving urban interventions that will improve health outcomes. | | Themes highlighted in this site include: | |
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