Urban health capacity assessment and response

WHO has developed an Urban health capacities assessment and response resource kit that equips multi-sectoral teams to assess whether a given initiative can meet its goals in a complex urban environment. It helps answer a critical question: Do we have the right capacities in place to achieve our objectives that influence urban health —whether directly or indirectly?

Urban health goals are broad. Whether the goal is improving mental health in an urban environment through arts programmes, enhancing food safety, improving transportation systems, or reducing falls among older adults—the Resource Kit guides through the process. These are just a few examples of what cities have already achieved with it.

Policy-makers and practitioners can deliver significant benefits to the health of city populations by achieving urban goals and solving challenges in any sector. The key to maximizing urban health is through strengthening and leveraging specific sets of capacities that connect diverse urban work across sectors and levels of governance.

The Kit provides a structured framework through its Primer, and a step-by-step process in the Action Guide and Training Videos, helping you evaluate key capacities across four critical areas:

1. Informed decision-making, monitoring, and evaluation
2. Policies, programmes, innovation, and change
3. Resource management (human, financial, and infrastructural)
4. Partnerships, participation, and knowledge sharing
   

These capacities are assessed at three levels—individual, organizational, and systemic—giving a comprehensive understanding of your strengths and gaps.

Explore how the Resource Kit can help you achieve your urban health goals by learning from real-world examples in the "City-examples" section.