Healthy Cities For A Sustainable Future

23 Jun 2008

By Hawazi Daipi

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

1. It is my pleasure to be here for this sharing session on “Healthy Cities for a Sustainable Future”.

2. The world is urbanising very rapidly. In many developing countries, urbanisation has created opportunities for education, employment and socio-economic development. However, urbanisation has also given rise to health and environmental problems and issues, such as air and water pollution, crowded housing, traffic congestion and outbreaks of infectious diseases. All of which we have been experiencing in Singapore.

3. This has provided the impetus for the World Health Organisation to develop the “Healthy Cities” approach to help countries cope with the adverse effects of urbanisation. This approach encourages governments to incorporate health issues into all aspects of public policy, and to actively engage non-health sectors, such as environment, education, and urban planning, to integrate health protection and health promotion activities into all aspects of urban living. Collaboration with non-governmental organisations, the private sector as well as the community is also encouraged.

4. What is a “Healthy City”? The WHO defines a “Healthy City” as one that continually creates and improves physical and social environments. A “Healthy City” also continually expands community resources that enable its people to mutually support each other in performing all the functions of life and in developing to their maximum potential.

5. Some of the key characteristics of a “Healthy City” include a clean, safe and sustainable environment; integration of health promotion and protection facilities, services and activities in settings such as schools, workplaces, healthcare institutions and the community; political commitment; intersectoral collaboration; and community participation. A massive task but not an impossible one, going by the examples of Marikina City in the Philippines and Healthy Cities Illawarra in New South Wales, Australia. We are fortunate to have with us the Mayors from these respective countries who will share with us their experiences.

6. Singapore has long adopted the whole-of-government approach advocated by WHO for Healthy Cities. Government organisations across multiple sectors have embarked on “Healthy Cities” initiatives. Just to name a few examples – the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources recently completed its three-yearly review of the Singapore Green Plan 2012, a 10-year blueprint towards environmental sustainability. The Green Plan addresses six focus areas – Clean Air and Climate Change, Clean Water, Waste Management, Nature Conservation, Public Health and International Environmental Relations.

7. The National Parks Board (NParks) continually develops and upgrades its parks and park connectors to ensure that Singapore residents live in a City in a Garden. The Park Connector Network is an island-wide network of linear open spaces that link up major parks, nature sites and housing estates in Singapore to provide additional recreational areas for activities like jogging, cycling and in-line skating.  To date, 100km of park connectors have been completed.  NParks plans to construct another 200km of park connectors by 2015.  Such convenient accessibility to parks would certainly promote physical activity, nurture mental wellness and strengthen family and community bonding.

8. The Green Mark for Buildings Scheme was launched by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) in January 2005 to encourage the incorporation of environmentally friendly and energy-saving features in buildings. It complements the National Environment Agency’s Energy Smart Buildings Scheme.

9. On the health front, my Ministry ensures that the population has access to quality and affordable health care. To ensure good health and reduce illnesses, we focus on health promotion and comprehensive disease management programmes to encourage our population to adopt a healthy lifestyle and to take responsibility for one’s own health.

10. The Health Promotion Board (or HPB in short) is our key partner in health promotion. It has forged a network of intersectoral collaborations with community organisations and  partners such as the People’s Association, the five Community Development Councils, grassroots organisations, religious groups, voluntary welfare organisations and non-governmental organisations, to promote healthy living among residents.

11. From April 2007 to March 2008, the HPB collaborated with these partners to organise 48 health-related community events such as health exhibitions, seminars, public forums and roadshows, reaching out to approximately 13,000 people. The HPB has also trained more than 60 community leaders on planning and executing health promotion initiatives. 

12. One of the HPB's key partners is the South West Community Development Council. The District’s innovative health promotion initiatives such as the Fun-Walkers@South West and the Healthy Community@South West programmes have been received enthusiastically by its residents. Dr Amy Khor, Mayor of the South West District, will join her Asia-Pacific counterparts today to share her District’s experiences.

13. The HPB has also established a sustainable Workplace Health Promotion Programme which provides leadership and support to both private and public sector organisation in developing programmes to improve the health and productivity of their employees.  In 2006, the Board presented the Singapore HEALTH Award (or the Helping Employees Achieve Life-Time Health Award) to 349 organisations with commendable Workplace Health Promotion Programmes.

14. Schools play a very important role to foster good physical, social and mental health of its students and staff. The HPB works closely with the schools on this. To encourage and recognise the efforts made by schools to promote health among their students and staff, the “Championing Efforts Resulting in Improved School Health” Award (CHERISH Award) was launched in year 2000. In 2005, 276 schools, or 80% per cent of public schools in Singapore, were presented with the CHERISH Award.

15. In order to sustain and improve intersectoral collaborations, it is vital to have regular exchange of knowledge and experience with Healthy Cities in other countries. Hence, HPB has gone beyond its role to strengthen health promotion capacity and collaborations of countries in the region as WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.  It has become an associate member of the Alliance for Healthy Cities and taken the first step towards regular exchange of knowledge and experience with Healthy Cities by organising this event.  HPB shares the goals of the Alliance, which is to make the best use of the “Healthy Cities” approach through promoting interaction and information exchange, research development, and capacity building programmes.

16. To forge further collaboration on the “Healthy Cities” approach, the HPB plans to form a local “Healthy City” network, comprising the five Community Development Councils (known here as the CDCs), relevant government and non-government organisations; and to organise regular knowledge exchange and discussion sessions within this network and with the Alliance. This will certainly contribute to and enhance the movement of the “Healthy Cities” approach in Singapore as well as in the Region.

17. On that note, I welcome all of you to this sharing session and to our overseas speakers and participants, a very warm welcome to Singapore.

Thank you.