WHO honours 3 cities for public health achievements

• Three cities — Cordoba (Argentina), Fortaleza (Brazil) and Manchester (United Kingdom) — were recognised by the WHO for their achievements in preventing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and injuries.

• The awards were presented during the annual Partnership for Healthy Cities Summit in Paris. 

• The Summit, co-hosted by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the World Health Organisation (WHO), Vital Strategies, and the City of Paris, convened mayors and officials from 61 cities in the Partnership for Healthy Cities network to address pressing public health issues and share effective strategies for saving lives and building healthier communities at the local level.

• Non-communicable diseases, including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, and injuries are responsible for more than 80 per cent of all deaths globally.

• The recipients of the 2025 Partnership for Healthy Cities Awards were chosen because they have made demonstrable progress in preventing NCDs and injuries, setting an example that can be replicated in other jurisdictions.

• All three winning cities are part of the Partnership’s Policy Accelerator, which provides training and support for drafting policies and establishing the political strategies needed to develop and enact them. 

1) Cordoba, Argentina: Passed a new policy committing the city to promoting healthy school food environments by eliminating sugary and artificially sweetened beverages and ultra-processed products from all schools by 2026. The programme has benefited 26 schools to date, reaching 15 000 of the city’s 138 000 primary school children.

2) Fortaleza, Brazil: Established the city’s first legal framework for air quality surveillance. The 2023 decree guarantees the local monitoring of air pollutants to estimate their impact on residents’ health, along with the installation of low-cost sensors to improve data collection. Reliable data will help inform city policies that can significantly reduce air pollution.

3) Manchester, United Kingdom: Expanded the number of outdoor smoke-free areas as part of efforts to reduce smoking, including opening its first smoke-free park, covering 6.5 acres of public space. Manchester also conducted a series of community consultations and workshops with residents to help with decision-making; launched a smoke-free toolkit and communication guidance for National Health Service (NHS) hospitals and sites; and is scaling this initiative by developing a broader smoke-free spaces toolkit for other organisations and groups that want to create smoke-free spaces.

Partnership for Healthy Cities

• Launched in 2017, the Partnership for Healthy Cities is a global network of 74 cities working to prevent non-communicable diseases and injuries. 

• Supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, in partnership with the WHO and Vital Strategies, this initiative empowers cities worldwide to implement high-impact policy or programmatic interventions to reduce non-communicable diseases and injuries in their communities. 

• Through this network, city leaders are enacting transformative measures to improve the health of 300 million people across the globe.

Manorama Yearbook app is now available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store