Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre’s Post

Urban health Driving health equity for cities and communities: the work of Belo Horizonte’s urban observatory Given the importance of accurate, disaggregated and detailed health data to inform each city’s policy and practice, why do so few cities have such data? Or if they do, it’s not available at city and sub-city level, or at household and community level. But see Waleska Teixeira Caiaffa’s account of the Belo Horizonte Observatory for Urban Health (OSUBH) and its partners in government, academia and community, working together to address this. https://lnkd.in/emZwd5iZ

New #OpenAccess #Empirical paper published! "A systems approach to improving health consideration in UK urban development: a real estate perspective" by Pablo Newberry, Heeseo Rain Kwon and Neil Carhart. https://lnkd.in/erWepAJ2 #UrbanHealth #Cities4Health #HealthyCities #PublicHealth #BuiltEnvironment #SystemsThinking #PopulationHealth #UrbanDevelopment #DecisionMaking Image: Figure 1. Causal loop diagram development process.

WHO released a series of four cross-cutting policy briefs to support strategic reflection among #UrbanHealth decision-makers. Visit: bit.ly/3XvHLa2 Policy briefs for a strategic approach for urban health: This series of policy briefs are part of a broad effort by WHO to support strategic reflection among urban health decision-makers in Member States. Each of the briefs focusses on a cross-cutting theme: generating and working with evidence; governance and financing; innovation; and partnerships and participation. Collectively, these represent the essential “means of implementation” that set the stage for a strategic approach to urban health. The series aims to inform national and subnational decision-makers and relevant technical staff about actions that can foster such an approach.

*A Joined-Up Approach on Urban Health* Impact on Urban Health is calling for three, easy wins for the next Government:   🍪 Restrictions on advertising high fat, salt and sugar foods (and better enforcement of existing legislation)    🏭 Incentivising businesses to track and reduce the harmful emissions they produce   🏢 A new bill to protect the rights of tenants who rent their homes Managing health goes beyond healthcare services. A Joint Urban Health Unit could immediately prioritise policies on three key drivers of health in cities: access to healthy and affordable food, the air we breathe, and the homes we live in.   https://lnkd.in/ey7s8x3Z Peter Babudu

I am thrilled to share a new publication that offers a comprehensive 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 in national urban development policies through the critical lenses of 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. As cities continue to grow, ensuring that policies not only foster development but also promote health equity and social inclusion is vital for sustainable growth. This paper provides an in-depth look at how urban policies can impact marginalized communities, particularly in terms of access to health and nutrition. 🔍 Key takeaways include: - The intersections between urban development, health, and nutrition. - Gaps in current policies that hinder equity. - Recommendations for creating more inclusive urban spaces that prioritize health outcomes. For policymakers, urban planners, and public health professionals, this is a must-read to understand how we can build cities that work for everyone, especially the most vulnerable. Read the full paper here: 👉https://lnkd.in/dwwMR-S4 #UrbanDevelopment #HealthEquity #SocialInclusion #Nutrition #SustainableCities #PolicyAnalysis #PublicHealth

🗳️ Whatever the outcome of the general election, we're calling on the next Government to have a joined-up approach to urban health. Here are the quick, straightforward steps that policy-makers can take to help make urban places healthier for everyone: 🏘️🏬🛝 1. Urban health is shaped by the places we live, work & play. Responsibility for making those places healthy sits locally, nationally and across Government. We’re calling for a central coordination body – the Joint Urban Health unit – to bring together stakeholders. 🏬 🍗 2. Cities are currently flooded with unhealthy food and drink options. The next Government can act quickly to better centre healthy food options in urban places h through restrictions on outdoor advertising and better enforcement of existing legislation in shops and high streets. 🍒 ☁️ 🌬️ 3. The disproportionate impact of air pollution leads to health inequities in urban areas. Businesses have a key role here. Government can introduce a rates relief system to incentivise and encourage businesses to track and reduce emissions that are harmful to health. 🏘️ 4. Good, secure homes are a fundamental building block of health. A new Government can safeguard the rights of tenants through legislation that protects residents, particularly those in the precarious private rented sector. Read more about the policies the next Government should immediately prioritise to act on health inequities in our latest blog 👇 https://lnkd.in/epczir9J

Health in the City. Exploring Urban Health from a Social Sciences Perspective International Workshop open to the public 25-26 June 2024 There is a growing body of urban health research in various disciplines, and the “Health in the City” ¨workshop aims to deepen the contribution of the social sciences to understand the relationship between health and the city and the social dynamics that inform it. To do so, we want to take a posture that considers the city in its ambivalence: on the one hand, the city is considered an unequal and risky context for health; on the other, it is a space with salutogenic and transformative potential in creating health, well-being, and processes of inclusion and participation. Initiative within the 4EU+ programme and realised in cooperation with the University of Milano Statale and the Charles University https://lnkd.in/egw2mfnG

We know the urban environment impacts population health, but translating this research to meaningful change is difficult and requires overcoming political, economic and organisational challenges.   Our researchers, embedded with Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Transport for Greater Manchester aim to ensure all research activity links to firm action, rather than nice words through effective knowledge exchange. Together, they have created a 'collaborative space' to bridge the gap between academia and practitioner to ensure health evidence shapes healthier urban environments.   In case you missed it, our briefing note outlines their work to develop an interlayer to a streets design checklist for Streets for All and new planning tools co-developed by Transport for Greater Manchester to help stakeholders use health data for informed decision-making.   Sian Peake-Jones, Cecilia Wong, Arpana Verma, Tracey Farragher, Blessing Tinotenda Nyakutsikwa, Helen Zheng

Congratulations Charles Satow for your paper being published on the use of Health Impact Assessments by local government public health teams and local planners. I really enjoyed taking part in the research and agree with your description that as healthy place shaping lead at Oxfordshire County Council I act as a policy entrepreneur: "Proactive public health practitioners may perform a policy entrepreneur role, translating knowledge between professions, galvanising stakeholders, engaging developers and HIA consultants early and repeatedly on individual HIAs, and continuously adapting HIA processes to drive change through the built environment system as part of a wider healthy placemaking strategy. Through this, they can ‘proactively position’ HIAs in the decision-making cycle, found to be a key enabler of HIA effectiveness." Satow, C. (2024). Towards healthier places: understanding local authority implementation of health impact assessments in urban planning projects in England. Cities & Health, 1–15. https://lnkd.in/gbnifkUK