SELANGOR - Experts have come up with solutions for sustainable urban development and ensuring human health at the "Integrating Health into Urban Planning towards Sustainable Development Goals in Developing Countries" workshop held on April 3-5 in Selangor, Malaysia.

This is a capacity building project that aims to raise the awareness and knowledge of researchers, policy makers and civil society on the integration of public health into urban planning. This project intends to foster collaboration between developed and developing countries in the Asia Pacific region, and addresses the cross-cutting targets of the Sustainable Development Goals.

“The aim of this workshop is to enhance the knowledge and skills of the participants in mainstreaming health into urban policies, promote science-policy interface, and provide a platform for interactions between different roles in the urban systems,” Prof. Dato’ Dr Mohammad Redzuan Othman, President and Vice Chancellor, Universiti Selangor (UNISEL) said at the opening ceremony.

Participants are academics, policy makers, practitioners and members of civil society from Cambodia, Việt Nam, Laos, India, China, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Vietnamese representatives from HCM City National University, University of Medicine and Pharmacy presented the problem of air pollution as well as flooding in Hà Nội and the Mekong Delta’s Cần Thơ City.

According to experts, urban planning and transportation have been identified as major components of the intervention to non-communicable diseases in the era of rapid urbanisation. Urban design such as density, transport infrastructure, and open spaces strongly influence human behaviour and activities, which subsequently bring cascading effects on the local environment, population health and well-being through air quality, traffic exposure, heat, noise, and opportunity for physical activity and social interaction.

This workshop also aims to introduce and provide training on integrated health risk and impact assessment tools for participants, provide a platform for interactions between researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and civil society on current issues, key scientific priorities, the value of incorporating health in all policies, and opportunities for collaboration.

This event is led by the Center of Southeast Asia Studies (Kyoto University) in partnership with UNISEL. It is financially supported by the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) under the Capacity Development Program (CAPaBLE). - VNS