Presenter 6: Evidence of Health in All Policy experiences of healthy city in Taiwan

Evidence of Health in All Policy: experiences of healthy city in Taiwan

In 1986, the World Health Organization (WHO) called for the implementation of the Healthy Cities Project (HCP) to tackle urbanization-related issues, such as inadequate infrastructure, public security, health inequality, and environmental problems. In Taiwan, the Department of Health’s Bureau of Health Promotion (BHP), first embraced the HC initiative in 2003 by inviting Tainan City to facilitate developing the healthy city initiative to sustain partnership with local experts and organizations. Using Tainan city as a model, the HCP initiative lead to the development of “Health in All Policy” (HiAP) in local government, as well as, creating windows of opportunities for HiAP in different departments, initiated through the HC movement. Central governments were encouraged to adopt the “Plan-Do-Check-Action” (PDCA) cycle as a mechanism and strategy for supporting the introduction of “Healthy Cities” to the nation. Local governments created a diverse set of priorities regarding health issues, reflecting the different states of economic development, physical environments, political/ administrative systems, and social and cultural norms of the cities involved.  Some of the various resources included national coordinators, external consultants, private institutions, and academia have been utilized to develop and provide technical input for healthy city initiatives in Taiwan. In 2009, the BHP set up the Taiwan Healthy Cities Awards to select outstanding organizations to serve as a positive model and to encourage mutual learning opportunities resulting in policy influence at city levels. In 2020, the resilient city awards for prevention and control of the COVID epidemic provided an evidence-based case study in New Taipei City. 76% of winners were non-health departments, which contributed in various ways, by engaging community participation, to the creation of a clean, safe, and high-quality living environment.  Notably, HiAP has been successfully implemented in each local government.