Urban Health and Wellbeing Program

Mohd Nordin Hasan ICSU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific

Dynamiques urbaines et enjeux sanitairesParis, September 2013

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Introduction

A new approach to project planning and development

Will overcome compartmentalised science and policy planning and implementation

Collaborative conceptual modeling (CCM)Multistakeholder cross-disciplinary and cross-

sectoral approach supported by system dynamics modeling

To produce realistic solutions to health and wellbeing issues in the urban environment

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ICSU ROAP established - September 2006Regional Committee for Asia and the Pacific

(“Governing Board”) identified priority areas for ROAPInitially 3 areas

Hazards and disastersEcosystemsSustainable energy

Health and wellbeing in the changing urban environment added as a priority in 2008

Background

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At ICSU

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Discussions on a programme on health and wellbeing commenced in 2006

Scoping Group formed in 2007Science Planning Group started

work in 2008Report completed in 2010General Assembly 2011 approved

programme and proposal to establish IPO on UHW

At ICSU ROAPRegional Science Planning Group formed in 20103 meetings - Kuala Lumpur (2) and Xiamen (1)On-line consultations at every stagePlan launched in June 2011 (22nd Pacific Science Congress)

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• ROAP Plan developed out of the ICSU plan

• An adaptation of the global plan to Asia-Pacific Region

• A step in the implementation of the ICSU Plan

• Strong focus and inter-relations maintained – it’s one and the same programme!

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• Income: low, high, emerging• Population density: low to some of the

highest • Cultural: ancient to modern• Governance: monarchy, democracy,

socialist etc

• Environmentally fragile regions: e.g. pacific islands

• Human development indicators: lowest to highest

• Health: life style diseases, infectious diseases, injuries

Asia-Pacific planning context

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Strengths

Ethnic diversityResilienceMany surviving local health

practices (Ayurveda, Chinese, Vaastu, Fengshui)

Strong family values and social safety nets

High aspirationsSkilled manpower in many fieldsYoung population

•Rapid urbanization •>50% urban population • Mostly young people • Has triple burden of

• infectious diseases• emerging life style diseases• injuries from accidents

Features of the UHW programme

• Recognises that urban health issues are complex, and require multi-disciplinary approaches

• Promotes research into urban health and wellbeing where researchers address multi-sectoral issues and involve a wide range of stakeholders 

• Adopts a system dynamics approach

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Beyond silos….taking a systems approach Understanding of multiple determinants of health and wellbeing

Commitment tourban growth limits

Commitment to effectivepublic transport

Urban healthand wellbeing

Opportunities forwalking and cycling

Air quality

Quality ofhousing

Commitment tosustainable urban

development

Populationsize

Understanding ofenvironmental determinents

of health and wellbeing

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Still more variables: feed back loops of drivers/causes

Commitment tourban growth limits

Commitment to effectivepublic transport

Viability of peri-urban agriculture

Land values

Amount of locallyproduced food

Area of peri-urbanagricultural land

Populationdensity

Urban healthand wellbeing

Opportunities forwalking and cycling

Air quality

Quality ofhousing

Commitment tosustainable urban

development

Adherence totraditional diets

Populationsize

Level of concern abouthealth and wellbeing

Impact of land-usepolicies and planning

Understanding ofenvironmental determinents

of health and wellbeing

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Recommended implementation strategy

Identify institutions keen on using systems approach in work on urban health and wellbeing;

Encourage institutions to engage in building capacity Encourage institutions to propose and undertake pilot

projects; Bring project team into contact with potential funding

agencies to support the research Use the exemplar pilot studies as base for outreach to

get city administrators and governors to support and use the systems approach for better evidence-based decision making.

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Implementation of the science plan – began 2012

1. Capacity building particular attention - utility of the systems approach to a

complex problem

2. Development of exemplar research projects centered on 6 cities (Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila, Pune,

Xiamen, Taipei) Examples of use of systems approach to deliver better

outcomes

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Implementation Step-1

Pre-scoping Workshop, Hyderabad, 28 – 29 June 2012.Multidisciplinary, multi stakeholder workshopIdentified needs and priorities (nutrition and health, waste

management, informal settlements, urban transport; vector-borne disease / communicable diseases added in 2nd workshop)

Explored potential research teams with merit and output-oriented focus

Discussed possibilities for research funding and supportDeveloped call for pre-proposals

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Implementation Step-2

Scoping Workshop Bangkok, 28 – 29 August 2012Reviewed concept proposals received (6/8 accepted

for development to full proposal)Achieved

clarification of research aims of projects, identification of training needs in systems approaches, identification of complementary activities required for

successful management of pilot projects agreement of selected projects

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,,,contd

Agreed design features (August 2012):Used systems thinking via the CCM approachRecognise that urban-health problems are multi-

sectoral, and solving them require multi- disciplinary approaches, and

Projects takes into account the interests of a wide range of stakeholders

Regional Steering Committee formed Chair Prof Javed Iqbal Members Profs Soottiporn Chittmittrapap, Tony Capon, C.P.

Ramachandran, Katrina Proust, Nordin Hasan (ex officio)

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Implementation Step-3

Systems Workshop, Kuala Lumpur January 2013Leaders of selected projects with advanced copies of

projects proposalsIntroduction to dynamic modelling and collaborative

conceptual modelling (CCM) methodologiesAssistance to finalise proposals for submission to

funding bodies on-going

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Final remarks

All ICSU regional offices have urban health as a priority area of work

Approach adopted by Asia-Pacific can be shared as a template to guide implementation in other regions (Africa; Latin America and the Caribbean)

Approach fits very well as a tool for planning multidisciplinary integrated research, the core concept underlying new 10-year global platform for research on global sustainability Future Earth

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Thank you! Planning Group members et al.

MembersTony Capon, AustraliaYong Guan Zhu, ChinaPhillipa Howden Chapman,

New ZealandReiko Kishi, JapanJaime Montoya , PhillipinesIndira Nath, India, ChairKatrina Proust , AustraliaNordin Hasan (Ex officio)

Method Specialist Barry Newell, Australia

ICSU ROAPBHJ Mckellar, Chair

RCAP Australia Nor Zaneedarwaty

Norman, MalaysiaHizam Jaafar, MalaysiaSharizad Dahlan

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Merci beaucoup !Cảm ơn bạn rất nhiều

Dynamiques urbaines et enjeux sanitairesParis, September 2013

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