Sharjah to expand ‘Healthy Cities’ programme to Khorfakkan, Kalba and Al Dhaid
WHO initiative focuses on continuous efforts to improve physical, social environments
Sharjah: The ‘Healthy Cities’ programme in Sharjah emirate could be expanded to the cities of Khorfakkan, Kalba, and Al Dhaid under ongoing efforts.
It follows the latest meeting of the ‘Executive Committee for Expanding the Scope of Healthy Cities in Sharjah’ held recently at the headquarters of the Sharjah Health Authority to discuss the progress in the implementation of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Healthy City programme.
In 2012, Sharjah was accepted in ‘Healthy Cities’, becoming the first emirate in the UAE to participate in the programme.
Health Cities evaluates how city governments prioritise health and what steps they take to achieve that goal. This includes a “public health report” that describes the health of the city’s population, using indicators such as disease prevalence, socioeconomic conditions, lifestyle, environmental conditions, health service utilisation (admission or attendance rates) and other factors influencing health, such as traffic and crime.
Last week, Dr Abdel Aziz Al Muhairi, chairman of the Sharjah Health Authority and chairman of the Executive Committee for Expanding the Scope of Healthy Cities in the Emirate of Sharjah, called for concerted efforts to expand Healthy Cities to include Khorfakkan, Kalba, Al Dhaid and other cities of the emirate in the future.
During the meeting, Dr Al Muhairi reviewed the Sharjah Executive Council’s decision approving the expansion of the geographical scope of Healthy Cities.
The chairman called for forming coordination committees for each of the three cities and workshops to train committee members to work on meeting WHO standards.