Initiative on Urban Governance for Health and Well-being in Mexico City

Abstract

Rapid, unplanned urbanization is one of the significant ecological and human challenges of the 21st century. UN-Habitat predicts that, by 2050, nearly 70% of the world’s population will be living in cities, with disproportionate urban growth in low- and middle-income countries. The Region of the Americas is one of the most urbanized regions in the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) Urban Governance for Health and Wellbeing initiative seeks to support local-level actions to promote good urban governance for health and well-being, emphasizing community participation. Urban governance for health and well-being refers to focused processes of interaction and subsequent decision-making to generate collective solutions to enhance health and well-being through co-creation practices, social change, and institutional engagement as part of whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches. WHO is working with five cities: Bogota (Colombia), Douala (Cameroon), Mexico City (Mexico), Khulna (Bangladesh), and Tunis (Tunisia). Mexico City (Ciudad de México) is the capital and largest city of Mexico, with the population of Mexico City alone representing 7.52% of the total urban population of Mexico. This brief aims to share the progress achieved in Mexico City in implementing the World Health Organization (WHO) Initiative on Urban Governance for Health and Well-being throughout the first phase. It presents the context and principles of the global initiative, achievements in Mexico City, and the next steps. The target audience of this publication is city officials, national governments, and donors.