On World Cities Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) has unveiled a new report showing how cities can advance efforts to address the rising challenges of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and injuries. With urbanization projected to reach 68% by 2050, the role of cities in safeguarding health and well-being is more crucial than ever. The report draws on the first-ever set of WHO indicators designed specifically for use at the city level, in recognition of the important role cities can play in protecting people from key risk factors.
Standards-based monitoring frameworks to measure progress on the prevention and control of NCDs and injuries are well-established and implemented at national levels. The WHO City-level monitoring guidance is the first time this approach has been developed for application at the city level. The indicators cover eight key areas: air pollution, alcohol control, overdose prevention, healthy diets, road safety, safe walking and cycling, tobacco control, and NCD and injury surveillance. The guidance is intended to help cities monitor their progress in the prevention and control of NCDs and injuries, by outlining key policy interventions and providing a monitoring framework, methods and an assessment instrument.
The report released today represents the first real-world application of the indicators, conducted as a pilot between 2021 and 2023 with 20 cities across diverse regions. It highlights the importance of monitoring and supporting subnational efforts around these topics, to reinforce efforts and the global and national levels.
“Cities are where the majority of us learn, work, play and love in the modern world, it also comes with major health risks. WHO is supporting cities with tools to build healthy cities.” Said Dr Guy Fones, Ad Interim Director for Noncommunicable Diseases, Rehabilitation and Disability at WHO. “By using these tools, cities can assess, monitor their progress and advance policies to ensure safer, healthier urban environments.”
The report is a baseline assessment of the availability of 34 core indicators from the new WHO city-level indicators for monitoring NCDs and injuries, in 20 cities from around the world. It provides a summary of core indicators by topic, showing their availability based on the aggregate results; it includes city profiles of the status of the core indicators; city case studies included in the report highlights good practices and examples for each topic.
The pilot report highlights how many cities are already successfully taking action to address risk factors for NCDs and injuries. All 8 topic areas showed cities with an “advanced” assessment for at least one indicator. But many indicators remained at a “nascent” level, indicating the need for greater support to ensure cities are empowered to advance these key policy areas.
Issues that prevented cities from advancing included a lack of legislative authority, lack of policy enforcement, and the absence of monitoring capacity. Cities should be offered greater technical and financial support across these issues to strengthen policy actions.
Recognizing the important role that cities can play in improving health, WHO already works with cities through various initiatives and on a range of topics. This includes the Partnership for Healthy Cities, a global network of cities committed to creating healthier, safer and more equitable urban centres by reducing the prevalence of NCDs and injuries.
Today WHO has also released the Urban health capacities assessment and response resource kit, which offers additional tools to help cities with their work on health, including NCDs and injuries.
