UNAS (2018) Owning Our Urban Future—Enabling Healthy Cities in Eastern Africa [ORIGINAL]

The study of urban health thus moves beyond simply documenting the health of populations in urban areas to a study of the inter-relations between material, social, mental, and spiritual factors that determine the health of individuals. [...] Originally emerging from the field of public health in the United States and Western Europe to examine the effects of the built environment on lifestyle and long-term health outcomes, the specific lens of urban health has 1 For the purposes of this study report, “eastern Africa” refers to the countries of the participating academies: Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda—although corroborating evi. [...] The study of urban health thus now includes the complex impact of interactions between the physical and social environments on both the short- and long-term health of populations in urban areas. [...] By synthesizing the viewpoints of academics and practitioners, the science academies are able to present a holistic discussion of the issues influencing urban health in the region and lay forth a series of conclusions and recommendations for consideration by policymakers. [...] The “city proper method” considers only the official administrative borders of the city; the “urban agglomeration method” considers the extent of the contiguous built-up area; and the “metropolitan method” considers the boundaries of a city in relation to the degree of economic and social interconnectedness with nearby areas (UN-Habitat, 2016b).