Since 1986 Hungary has been involved to the WHO Healthy Cities project which aims to place health high on the agenda of decision-makers in 18 cities and to promote comprehensive local strategies for health and sustainable development based on the principles and objectives of the strategy for Health for All for the twenty-first century and local Agenda 21.
18 cities and towns are linked to the National Healthy Cities Network. Cities participating in the network have developed and implemented a wide range of programmes and products including health profiles and health strategies based on intersectoral cooperation, community development initiatives and programmes that address the needs of vulnerable groups, lifestyles, environmental health and Agenda 21.
WHO Healthy Cities participates in the European Sustainable Cities & Towns Campaign, funded by DGXI of the European Commission. More than 200 local authorities throughout Europe joined the Campaign by signing the Aalborg Charter which commits them to creating local Agenda 21 action plans.
To support the CCEE countries in their attempts to create healthier and more sustainable cities and towns a basic information package was developed in several central and eastern European languages.
The package aims to provide local authorities with the key information on healthy cities and sustainable development and gives a tool to put into practice the principals of the WHO health for all strategy and sustainable development in the urban areas. The package is based on the principal documents which constitute the International and European framework for health and sustainable development:
- Ottawa Charter
- Our Cities, Our Future
- Athens Declaration
- Jakarta Declaration
- Action for health in cities
- Twenty steps for developing a Healthy Cities project
- Sustainable development and health: concepts, principals and framework for action for European cities and towns
- City planning for health and sustainable development
- Towards a new planning process. A guide to the re-orientation of urban spatial planning towards Local Agenda 21.
- Case studies
The package is also available in Slovakian, Slovenian, Hungarian, Russian.