Image used for representation only.
Doha, Qatar: Healthy Cities Conference for the Eastern Mediterranean Region 2023 concluded yesterday with the adoption of 'Doha Statement' calling for including health and wellbeing in policy development and strategy planning.
Representatives of 15 countries attended the Healthy Cities Conference for the Eastern Mediterranean Region 2023, organised by the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), and the World Health Organization (WHO).
The Doha Statement on Healthy Cities in the Eastern Mediterranean Region — ‘Call for Action: Paving the road to sustainable urban well-being’ was endorsed, where city representatives in the WHO's Eastern Mediterranean Region pledged to work to ensure that all relevant sectors consider health and wellbeing in their policy development and strategy planning.
Participants pledged to systematically address the challenges posed by climate change to public health, including developing adaptation strategies to prevent the health consequences of extreme events and implementing mitigation policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through sustainable transport, reducing air pollution, and increasing green spaces.
Participants also pledged to prioritise reducing health inequalities within communities through targeted interventions towards the most vulnerable groups such as children, elderly, displaced populations, and persons with disabilities. They pledged to involve communities in assessing necessities and decision-making processes on health, as well as to collect, analyse and make available relevant evidence and information to all stakeholders to assess the health status of the population, and to contribute to planning, ensuring informed decision-making. Participants stressed that investing in healthy cities has proven valuable in promoting collaboration between the public and private sectors as well as civil society to promote the health and well-being of citizens.
They also praised Doha’s commitment to a healthy city, healthy children and a healthy future agreed on October 31, 2019, which marked the beginning of the Healthy City movement in Qatar. A meeting to assess progress and share lessons learned is scheduled for 2025. The Healthy Cities Conference of the Eastern Mediterranean Region was held with the participation of about 1,300 participants in person or through remote communication technologies. The main theme of the conference was: “Healthy Cities: A Multisectoral Platform for Health and Well-being”.
43 local and international experts shared their experiences aimed at contributing to the main objective of the conference, which is to explore how to scale up the Healthy Cities approach across the Eastern Mediterranean Region in line with the thirteenth WHO General Program of Action, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the Regional Vision 2023 “Health for All, by All”. The conference also aimed to contribute to advancing urban health strategies and leading the way towards healthier cities and communities across the region and beyond. The Healthy Cities Program is one of WHO’s top priorities in the Eastern Mediterranean Region as a dynamic, multisectoral platform to address the social determinants of health, engage communities and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
