Health for All: Sustainable Systems in an Urbanising World

PROGRAM

5:30-7:00pm

Welcome: Jo Ivey Boufford, MD, President, The New York Academy of Medicine (Chair)

Keynote: Nata Menabde, PhD, Executive Director, World Health Organization Office at the United Nations

Panelists:

•    Lola Adedokun, MPH, Director, African Health Initiative, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation

•    Oxiris Barbot, MD, First Deputy Commissioner, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

•    Sue Henshall, PhD, Special Advisor to the CEO, Union for International Cancer Control

Q&A with audience

7:00-8:00pm: Reception

By 2030, the date by which governments have committed to achieving universal health coverage (UHC), the context in which health systems operate will have evolved dramatically. The global population is projected to reach 8.5 billion, of which over 60% will live in urban areas, with the most rapid rates of urbanization occurring in LMICs. Unsustainable urbanization poses threats to health including air pollution, which alone causes 7 million deaths annually, together with sedentary lifestyles and unhealthy diets. But while urbanization is inevitable, it need not be detrimental to health, if we act on opportunities unique in urban settings to strengthen health systems and take a health in all policies approach to decision making across sectors including energy, urban planning, transport, food and agriculture, and education to minimize the burden of disease. Urban authorities have a responsibility to implement healthy policies for prevention of disease and to strengthen healthcare systems to serve populations with rapidly shifting demographics and disease patterns without harming the environment. This event will explore these important connections and suggest actions to advance urban health.

Attendees will understand:
•    The important complementary role of universal coverage and health systems strengthening with intersectoral action among health, urban planning and others to create healthy communities, and promote health in all governance
•    Opportunities to work across sectors to advance urban health with examples from New York City and other large world cities
•    The importance of primary care as a bridge between the hospital and the community to advance health
•    The need and means to achieve UHC as a component of sustainable development in shifting contexts