Tokyo Joins Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Partnership for Healthy Cities
NEW YORK — Bloomberg Philanthropies announced today that Tokyo is the newest city to join the Partnership for Healthy Cities as part of a $12 million reinvestment to expand the number of cities in the program from 54 to 70. The Partnership for Healthy Cities is a global network of cities, each committed to achieving one of 14 health interventions proven to save lives, such as reducing sugary drink consumption, increasing seat-belt or helmet use, or promoting active, safe mobility. Today’s announcement brings the total invested in the program to $20.5 million.
Launched in 2017, the Partnership for Healthy Cities—supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Vital Strategies—provides cities with financial assistance and technical advice from public health experts to implement their chosen intervention to reduce noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) or injuries. Tokyo is going to work with the Partnership in the area of air quality monitoring.
NCDs—which include heart disease, cancer, diabetes, respiratory diseases—and injuries such as road traffic crashes, together cause an estimated 80% of global deaths each year. Although NCDs are responsible for 67% of deaths in low- and middle-income countries, and account for trillions in economic losses, they receive only 2% of total development assistance for health.
Partnership cities have made important strides to build healthier and safer environments. For example, Quito, Ecuador replaced junk food with healthy options for 50% of public school students—expanding to 100% next year. In Accra, Ghana, a series of infrastructure changes at a major highway crossing with the highest rate of road crashes and fatalities in the city led to a nearly 35% reduction in serious injuries at the site...