World Health Organisation (WHO) Healthy Cities: Brighton and Hove

The World Health Organisation (WHO) Healthy Cities project is a long-term international development initiative which aims to place health high on the agenda of local political decision-makers, key groups at city level, and the population at large (Kickbusch, 1989; Tsouros, 1995a).

It aims to promote comprehensive local strategies for health and sustainable development, and ultimately, seeks to enhance the physical, mental, social, and environmental health and wellbeing of the people who live and work in cities and related municipalities in various regions of the world.

In 2004, Brighton and Hove joined Phase IV of the WHO Healthy Cities Programme and was formally designated as a WHO Healthy City. As Phase IV ended in December 2008, Brighton and Hove were invited to join Phase V from January 2009. To assist key stakeholders in this decision-making process and to optimise future operation of the Healthy City programme, the International Health Development Research Centre (IHDRC) at the University of Brighton was commissioned to conduct a review to scope whether added value has accrued from the City’s role as a Healthy City.

The key aims of the review were to assess:

> Whether the Healthy City approach is making a positive contribution to the health and wellbeing of the people of Brighton and Hove.
> Whether Brighton and Hove’s relationship with the WHO Healthy Cities Network has facilitated the progress of public health policy and practice within the City.
> How the Healthy City Partnership can evolve to optimise the potential for health improvement and reduction in inequalities within the City.

The principal achievements and/or impacts of the Brighton and Hove Healthy City (HC) programme focussed on broad awareness of the World Health Organisation (WHO) ‘badge’. This helped to legitimise health and raise its profile across the City, facilitated political ‘buy-in’ for the HC Programme, and increased strategic partnership working.

It also raised the profile of the City more broadly in international and European arenas, legitimatising and endorsing the work of the Healthy City Partnership (HCP). However, some stakeholders were unable to identify key achievements of the HC Programme for various reasons. These included having only recently joined the Partnership; a lack of clarity around objectives (HC Programme and HCP), targets and key benchmarks; failure of the HCP to reflect upon and celebrate its successes; and difficulties in attributing impact or influence specifically to the HC Programme.

Under the healthy ageing theme, key achievements have included raising awareness of older people’s health issues by shifting the focus towards the wider determinants of health, to include issues such as increasing independence and social inclusion by strengthening the role of older people in decision making and incorporating consultation into strategic plans. Nevertheless, there was some difficulty in reporting achievements specifically attributable to the HC Programme.

The Healthy Cities Programme has helped to raise awareness of health inequalities in the City by providing a strategic focus to encourage cross-sectoral partnership working. However a lack of understanding as to the role of the Healthy City Programme in tackling inequalities was noted.

In attempting to address the wider determinants of health, stakeholders found it difficult to make a direct causal link from specific ongoing projects and infrastructural developments to the HC Programme.

However, it was felt that awareness had been raised on what constituted the wider determinants of health, as a direct result of the HC Programme, and the long-term financial benefits of related work was recognised.

Publications

Hall, C., Davies, J.K., and, Sherriff, N.S. (2010). Health in the Urban Environment: A Qualitative Review of the Brighton and Hove WHO Healthy City Program, Journal of Urban Health, 87(10), 8-28. DOI 10.1007/s11524-009-9387-y

Davies, J.K., Sherriff, N.S, Hall, C (2008). Review of Brighton and Hove Healthy City Programme (Phase IV)

Presentations

Davies, J.K., Sherriff, N.S., and Hall, C. (2009). A Review of Brighton and Hove Healthy City: Phase IV, Paper presented at the Seongbuk International Conference on Healthy Cities, Seongbuk, South Korea, 27-28th August, 2009.

Davies, J.K., Sherriff, N.S and, Hall, C. (2008). A Review of Brighton and Hove Healthy City: Phase IV, Paper presented at the International Healthy Cities Conference, Zagreb, Croatia, 15-18th October, 2008.

Hall, C, Davies, J.K., Sherriff, N.S. (2008) A Review of Brighton and Hove Healthy City: Phase IV, Paper presentation at the 17th UKPHA Annual Public Health Forum.

Davies, J.K., Sherriff, N.S and, Hall, C. (2008). A Review of Brighton and Hove Healthy City: Phase IV, Invited presentation to the Healthy City Partnership, Brighton, 23rd September, 2008.