Only 18 cities in the Eastern Mediterranean region (EMRO) of the World Health Organisation (WHO) have been awarded the “Healthy City” status since the inception of the initiative, and two cities from Qatar are among them in addition to Qatar Foundation's (QF) Education City, an official told *Gulf Times.
The Doha and Al Rayyan municipalities were awarded the “Healthy City” designation and the QF’s Education City was designated “Healthy Education City” by the WHO on Sunday.
“So far, 103 cities have registered for the title, and only 18 awarded the (status),” Dr Maha El-Adawy, the director of Division of Healthier Population at WHO, EMRO, told *Gulf Times at a press conference.
Also present were QF City Operations executive director Hamad Mohamed al-Kuwari, Jaber Hassan al-Jaber from the Ministry of Municipality, and Dr Sadriya al-Kohji, assistant medical director for children and adolescent services at the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC).
“Qatar started the process in 2018 and due to the coronavirus (Covid-19), it got delayed,” Dr El-Adawy noted. “Qatar has come forward with a strong presence with three places – two cities and an educational institution becoming part of the ‘Healthy City’ initiative.”
“Generally, the process of evaluation and awarding takes 2-3 years, and Qatar completed it soon despite the Covid-19 challenges,” she added.
According to the EMRO official, there are nine different domains to be considered for the title of “Healthy City”, which include community participation and engagement, capacity building, and social and environmental issues.
“We make the assessment with the all the stakeholders, government officials, city authorities and others, Dr El-Adawy explained. “We discuss all these aspects and make the assessment which leads to the final external evaluation with people from our office as well as experts from other organisations.”
“In these assessments, each city has to achieve 80% of the criteria to be awarded the designation,” she added. “Both the cities in Qatar completed the criteria and scored over 80%. In the case of the Education City, it was much more than 80%, which is very encouraging and positive.”
The status of “Healthy City” is valid for three years, after which there will be a reevaluation to make sure that the entire process is continuing.
“The cities can add more parameters if they wish. Some cities have requested a five-year validity … we are discussing with them if it can be possible,” Dr El-Adawy said.
“The Education City is the second institution in the region to be awarded the title. However, the Education City is much larger, and we have more institutes in the campus and so this can be termed as one of its kind,” she remarked.
The PHCC’s Dr al-Kohji said that Qatar aims at getting all the eight municipalities awarded as “Healthy Cities” by the WHO.
“From the beginning, the idea came as a project to building healthy cities to reduce the burden of obesity among children in the country,” she said. “It was one of the strategic goals to be achieved.”
“We also want to reduce the communicable disease and provide a healthy environment,” Dr al-Kohji added. “We hope that this designation is a big step in that direction. As we have got two cities designated as ‘Healthy City’, we plan to add all the municipalities in the country in the project.”
The Doha and Al Rayyan municipalities were awarded the “Healthy City” designation and the QF’s Education City was designated “Healthy Education City” by the WHO on Sunday.
“So far, 103 cities have registered for the title, and only 18 awarded the (status),” Dr Maha El-Adawy, the director of Division of Healthier Population at WHO, EMRO, told *Gulf Times at a press conference.
Also present were QF City Operations executive director Hamad Mohamed al-Kuwari, Jaber Hassan al-Jaber from the Ministry of Municipality, and Dr Sadriya al-Kohji, assistant medical director for children and adolescent services at the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC).
“Qatar started the process in 2018 and due to the coronavirus (Covid-19), it got delayed,” Dr El-Adawy noted. “Qatar has come forward with a strong presence with three places – two cities and an educational institution becoming part of the ‘Healthy City’ initiative.”
“Generally, the process of evaluation and awarding takes 2-3 years, and Qatar completed it soon despite the Covid-19 challenges,” she added.
According to the EMRO official, there are nine different domains to be considered for the title of “Healthy City”, which include community participation and engagement, capacity building, and social and environmental issues.
“We make the assessment with the all the stakeholders, government officials, city authorities and others, Dr El-Adawy explained. “We discuss all these aspects and make the assessment which leads to the final external evaluation with people from our office as well as experts from other organisations.”
“In these assessments, each city has to achieve 80% of the criteria to be awarded the designation,” she added. “Both the cities in Qatar completed the criteria and scored over 80%. In the case of the Education City, it was much more than 80%, which is very encouraging and positive.”
The status of “Healthy City” is valid for three years, after which there will be a reevaluation to make sure that the entire process is continuing.
“The cities can add more parameters if they wish. Some cities have requested a five-year validity … we are discussing with them if it can be possible,” Dr El-Adawy said.
“The Education City is the second institution in the region to be awarded the title. However, the Education City is much larger, and we have more institutes in the campus and so this can be termed as one of its kind,” she remarked.
The PHCC’s Dr al-Kohji said that Qatar aims at getting all the eight municipalities awarded as “Healthy Cities” by the WHO.
“From the beginning, the idea came as a project to building healthy cities to reduce the burden of obesity among children in the country,” she said. “It was one of the strategic goals to be achieved.”
“We also want to reduce the communicable disease and provide a healthy environment,” Dr al-Kohji added. “We hope that this designation is a big step in that direction. As we have got two cities designated as ‘Healthy City’, we plan to add all the municipalities in the country in the project.”
