Tomorrow (April 7), the World Health Organization launches a new campaign to raise awareness about the dangers faced by city dwellers.
The 1000 cities, 1000 lives campaign aims to encourage citizens to put initiatives in place to improve their health in the city. It wants to mobilize municipalities to find ways to tackle the health problems faced by their citizens. Its goal is to close some streets to automobile traffic and turn them over to pedestrians and cyclists, clean up public spaces and promote visits to people in need.
The WHO has a website for its 1000 cities, 1000 lives campaign: 1000cities.who.int/. The website explains, "Urbanization is associated with many health challenges related to water, environment, violence and injury, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and their risk factors like tobacco use, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, harmful use of alcohol as well as the risks associated with disease outbreaks."
It goes on to say, "Over half the world’s population now live in cities. By 2030, six out of every 10 people will be city dwellers, rising to seven out of every 10 people by 2050."
The WHO is calling on citizens to nominate an urban health champion in their city and to share their initiatives with fellow city dwellers.