Seventy-four cities within the Partnership for Healthy Cities network are urging global recognition of urban centers’ critical role in combating noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).
This call precedes the Fourth UN High-Level Meeting on NCD Prevention and Control this September, focused on achieving Sustainable Development Goal Target 3.4: reducing premature NCD deaths by one-third by 2030. With cities housing over half the global population and NCDs claiming 43 million lives annually, the network argues local action is indispensable for effective prevention.
Cities demonstrate daily how evidence-based policies save lives and offer economic benefits, the partnership states.
Initiatives like improving access to healthy foods in public institutions, creating smoke-free spaces, and designing walkable neighbourhoods show tangible results. Local governments utilize tailored data to target vulnerable populations and specific health challenges efficiently. Despite this proven potential to protect billions, cities often lack adequate resources and recognition in national and global health strategies.
The partnership outlined key strategies for empowering cities. It calls on national governments to support local adoption of population-level policies limiting NCD risk factors and ensure urban health budgets match needs.
Cities worldwide must prioritize NCD prevention, integrating solutions into all urban planning aspects, from transport to education. City leaders should leverage their legal authority to champion public health policies. Crucially, the upcoming UN meeting’s Political Declaration must explicitly acknowledge cities’ essential role in meeting global NCD targets.
Building on this momentum, several mayors emphasized local action’s importance. Freetown’s Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr highlighted work reducing sodium consumption to combat hypertension, stressing that “urban policies directly shape the food we eat, how we move, and the air we breathe.”
London’s Sadiq Khan cited his city’s Ultra Low Emission Zone and restrictions on junk food advertising as life-saving measures enabled by local authority. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo advocated for an international strategy strongly supported by tailored local action, noting mayors possess the “pragmatic, on-the-field vision” necessary for success.
Reinforcing this perspective, Quezon City’s Joy Belmonte pointed to their Calorie-labeling Ordinance promoting informed food choices. Santiago Governor Claudio Orrego linked sustainable mobility and green infrastructure investments directly to improved public health and equity.
The Partnership for Healthy Cities, supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, WHO, and Vital Strategies, enables these urban interventions globally. The network asserts that without adequately resourced and empowered city leadership, millions more lives will be lost prematurely to preventable NCDs.
