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Islamabad registered in Healthy City Programme Network of WHO
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Islamabad has been registered in the Healthy City Programme network of the World Health Organisation which will make it country’s first model healthy city.
The news was shared after a planning meeting on the Healthy City Programme (HCP) was held on Friday to step up the planning and implementation phase of the programme.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) Representative in Pakistan has fully supported the initiative, saying that it will be a game changer in the present scenario of health systems in Pakistan.
The initiative, which was launched in October this year as a result of collaboration between WHO Country Office in Pakistan and the Health Directorate of Islamabad, took a step further under the leadership of the Mayor and Chairman of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) Sheikh Ansar Aziz.
“The Healthy City Programme approach focusing urban health involves comprehensive and systematic efforts to address inequalities, targeting needs of vulnerable groups like people from low-income and under-privileged segments of the society. This initiative will play a pivotal role in the formation of political, professional and technical alliance to achieve health improvement goals for Islamabad as well as to create a supportive environment in which innovative action for local development can take place following a holistic and integrated approach,” Ansar stated at the meeting.
On this occasion, Dr Assai Ardakani, representative of WHO in Pakistan appreciated the initiative of Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) and said that continuous support extended by the organisation to initiate healthy city programme in the beautiful capital of Pakistan is a laudable step. He said that under the leadership of Mayor Islamabad, this programme will surely bring its fruit in the city.
“I am confident that under the leadership of the Mayor of Islamabad, capital of Pakistan can become a model city not only for Pakistan but also for the region,” Dr Assai said.
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What is a healthy city?
A healthy city is defined by a process, not an outcome, according to WHO.
- A healthy city is not one that has achieved a particular health status.
- It is conscious of health and striving to improve it. Thus any city can be a healthy city, regardless of its current health status.
- The requirements are: a commitment to health and a process and structure to achieve it.
- A healthy city is one that continually creates and improves its physical and social environments and expands the community resources that enable people to mutually support each other in performing all the functions of life and developing to their maximum potential.
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Featured image by Muhammad Hamza Niazi