In time for the World Cities Summit, the World Economic Forum published Healthy Cities and Communities Playbook, in collaboration with the Oliver Wyman Forum. The playbook found that places as diverse as Jersey City and Austin in the US, and Mumbai in India, can develop effective healthy living programs. This was achieved by creating public-private partnerships which focus on the underlying salient dimensions of physical and mental wellbeing such as nutrition, sanitation, and environmental and social wellbeing.
By Mayuri Ghosh, Head of Healthy Cities and Communities Initiative, World Economic Forum
As communities recover, there is a renewed commitment to improving health and wellbeing by addressing underlying lifestyle and environmental conditions. City governments cannot solve this challenge alone and need leadership from business, civil society, and academia.
Three pilot cities, Austin and Jersey City in the US and Mumbai in India illustrate successful pathways towards enabling healthy living.
Access to better nutrition: partnerships with the private sector in Jersey City, New Jersey
Under the leadership of Mayor Steven Fulop and the Department of Health and Human Services – with more than 260,000 people within the metro New York City region, Jersey City is enhancing its residents’ physical and mental wellbeing through improved access to better nutrition options. One notable private sector collaboration is with the start-up AeroFarms, a pioneer tech start-up in urban farming.
Social wellbeing: the importance of non-profits in grassroot efforts in Austin Texas
The Austin Healthcare Council is a non-profit coalition established to grow the city’s reputation as a health and wellbeing hub for its residents. The group is working with the office of Mayor Steve Adler and the city’s public health department to address early years interventions and life skills enhancement for the city’s most vulnerable populations.
One of the first collaborations is with the United Way Family Connects program. A community health and wellbeing worker visits households with newborns in the first three weeks after birth to ensure that every baby gets a healthy start in life.
Hygiene and sanitation: maximizing reach and impact in Mumbai, India
In Mumbai, India, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai has engaged with the India chapter of the Toilet Board Coalition (TBC) – a membership-driven organization – to help improve basic sanitation services.
One such effort is with coalition member Hindustan Unilever. Through the Suvidha initiative, Hindustan Unilever is developing affordable, long-term WASH facilities in the city’s largest informal settlements to address severe local shortcomings in hygiene and sanitation. Five Suvidha centres have been developed since the launch of the initiative. Each centre offers toilets, purified drinking water, washing machines and showers for holders of affordable monthly or single use passes. The centres currently serve approximately 13,000 people every day, and there is an opportunity to scale the initiative to more informal settlements.
Cross-border innovation and inspiration
Facilitated by our Healthy Cities and Communities efforts, Jersey City in the US, for instance, adapted the idea of “health buses” from the concept of the “Ti” bus in the city of Pune in India.
In India, the buses were targeted towards women to offer safe and sanitary access to public toilets, with additional health services in the buses. Learning from that model, in Jersey City, the vehicles have been designed to offer a range of services to the city’s homeless and poorest residents, including showers, screenings, counseling, and laundry. Long term, Jersey City administrators hope to connect clients with appropriate housing and other agencies.
About Future of Consumption Platform
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Consumption Platform aims to forge responsible models of equitable consumption, promote societal wellbeing and protect the planet. Improving consumer wellbeing is a key transformation goal of the platform. Its Healthy Cities and Communities initiative is a flagship effort driving public-private action in partner cities for better health and wellbeing outcomes of citizens who are also consumers.
