UN Agencies publicized “Global Report on Urban Health”

A report titled Global report on urban health: equitable, healthier cities for sustainable development, 2016 has been released by World Health Organisation (WHO) in collaboration with United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) showing the health inequities between the richest and poorest urban populations.

• It compared data on health from urban areas of 100 countries.
• The report was led and written by the WHO Centre for Health Development in Kobe, Japan.

Key Highlights of Report w.r.t India

• Increase in urban population – It is projected to increase from 380 million in 2014 to 600 million by 2031.

• Alleviation of critical health issues – The role of civil society and NGOs will be equally important, along with the government agencies in elimination of critical health issues in urban disadvantaged areas.

• Home to TB – In Mumbai, there are maximum cases of TB. In 2014, it registered 2951 MDR-TB cases which are more than 12% of the cases in the whole nation.

• Urbanization leads to NCDs – Change in lifestyle worked perfectly in favor of non-communicable diseases. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer becomes the leading causes of death in urban areas. These are followed by mental health conditions and respiratory diseases.

• Pedestrians and bicyclists fatality – They have accounted for 44% of road traffic fatalities,= and ranged maximum of 60% in Mumbai.

• Traffic fatalities – Chennai ranked 2^nd in the world in terms of traffic fatalities per 1 lakh inhabitants followed by Jaipur, Indore, Kolkata, Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune, Surat, Ahmedabad and Mumbai.

• Physical and sexual violence against women – Its rate in the cities of India is twice in slums as compared to wealthier areas.

• Inadeqaute provision to meet population’s demand – The key barrier in upgrading and maintaining cities in India is political.

The report is the updated version of 2010 joint WHO/UN Habitat global report – Hidden Cities: Unmasking and Overcoming Urban Health Inequities.