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NIUA is working on the Healthy Cities Project, which is being sponsored by the World Health Organisation. This is an action-research project that will formulate Healthy City Plans, develop IEC materials and work out a Methodology for Building Healthy Cities. The Project is for two years, 2000-2001. The main objectives of the project are:

• to develop a shared community vision of the future;
• to identify and prioritize key issues;
• to raise awareness and facilitate community-based analysis of local issues;
• to develop action plans by drawing on the experiences and innovations of diverse local groups and local experts;
• to make an effort to mobilize community wide resources to meet service needs and;
• promote increased public support for municipal functions and programmes.

The Healthy Cities Project is a worldwide movement (by WHO) of city-based public health initiatives for improving environmental hygiene. The rationale for focusing on public health in cities and towns is to overcome environmental deterioration caused by rapid urbanization. The entire effort is directed towards building a lobby at the local level, in order to initiate public health improvements into the planning process. The concept tries to include health as a development activity in the planning agenda and introduce a participatory approach to deal with the environmental well-being of the people who live and work in the urban areas. Ultimately, the initiative aims to improve the physical, mental, social and environmental well-being of the people who live and work in urban areas, with an emphasis on healthy public policy and increased public accountability. It also aims at breaking down the vertical structures and barriers and obtaining a better horizontal integration for working together.

The Healthy Cities Project was launched in Europe in 1986. The World Health Organisation is now trying to spread the message to the South-East Asian countries, like India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Phillippines, Thailand, etc. The Healthy City concept was introduced in India in the early 1990s. Subsequently awareness programmes were launched in the metropolitan cities. An effort has also been made to build databases. Of late, the SEARO office of WHO has widened the scope of the project to include districts. The aim is to extend its application to both rural and urban settlements. Mirzapur, in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India, has been selected for a Healthy District project. NIUA has been assigned the task of awareness creation and training the community through participatory methods, by the Government of India.