City Health International

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City Health International is delighted to announce we have established a blog on the website to promote debate and discussion around current issues of interest to the network. David MacKintosh, one of the founders of the network, writes a weekly piece, posted here. We also invite contributions to the blog from others with ideas and opinions on issues relating to health behaviours and urban health and well being and who wish to share with others. If you would like to contribute, please send your post to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we will ensure it is posted on the site and placed in the weekly City Health alerts sent to those in the network.

Around the world many are working on how we develop support for ageing populations. In South Korea they are looking to restructure jobs to make them more suitable for older workers. Brazil has established older people’s councils to consider the issues and generate ideas. The World Health Organisation has identified ten priorities towards making 2020-2030 a decade of health ageing. One of these priorities is sharing information and experience.

We all make mistakes. These will be of varying degrees and seriousness, but all of us can look back on judgements that proved to be wrong, decisions made in error or things we would, in hindsight, have done differently. Sometimes it may be that we just didn’t understand the impact of a particular factor or event. The same also applies to organisations. Neither good intentions nor past success provides immunity. Of course, the larger and more influential an organisation, the more the consequences of mistakes are likely to be magnified. Businesses may pay for these mistakes in terms of profit, share value or even their survival. We may want to ponder the consequences when health bodies make significant errors.

We all know there are many factors involved in any individual’s health, there are environmental factors, the physical circumstances in which they live, their behaviours and genetics. Access to good medical services, for both prevention and treatment are also recognised as being important. But the processes by which it is decided which services are provided where, be that at a national, regional or local level are, perhaps, less frequently considered. Yet we all know there are significant variations in everything from cancer survival rates (good to be in the USA, Canada, Australia, Finland or Iceland) to access to good quality ante-natal and early years care, where Western Europe general does well as do Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau but the USA does relatively badly.

I was recently involved in a visit to London by a group from Washington DC. They were drawn from the offices of both Republican and Democrat members, and all shared an interest in learning more about UK harm reduction approaches. While my contribution was limited to illegal drugs and alcohol, they also met those involved in promoting tobacco harm reduction approaches. I am always struck by how much more difficult and complex we make harm reduction around legal substances than illegal. Providing advice on how an injecting heroin user might reduce risks to themselves and those around them is, by and large, pretty uncontroversial. Start talking about offering practical advice to those who drink above the government recommended guidelines or to those who smoke or otherwise consume nicotine (despite the efforts of Public Health England), and you can quickly find yourself in hot water.

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David’s blog 49#: The World Turned Upside Down

Wednesday, April 01, 2020

Everything is changed. COVID-19 and responses to it have seen dramatic and fundamental changes to how life is lived around the globe. International travel has come to a near complete halt, much of the world is under some form of lock down with businesses, schools, shops, pubs and cafes shut. Our economic and social reality is now unrecognisable from that of only weeks ago.

David’s blog 48#: Revisit, Rewind and Renew

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Clearly the current health focus is strongly centred on Covid- 19 and related issues, as it has been for the past few weeks. It is a demanding situation for politicians, officials, and indeed all of us, especially those working in our healthcare system. One of the major challenges we face is increasing understanding and encouraging changes in behaviour, while also avoiding panic and overreaction. Trusted and accurate information is clearly essential, both for those who have a key role and for the general public. We are certainly seeing more of England’s Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Adviser in the media than usual. In the current situation, politicians are not only keen to hear from experts, but also happy to let them step into the spotlight. While we still see sensationalist headlines, there are also visible benefits of this approach, with more measured and informed elements within the media coverage- though this is less evident on the outer reaches of the online universe. Before I move on to other topics, let us reflect on the significant additional pressures being placed on our frontline health providers. They deserve our gratitude and, in many instances, much improved terms and conditions. Let’s hope that when this coronavirus issue passes the staff that so many rely on are not overlooked.

David’s blog 47#: Reality Bites

Monday, February 10, 2020

Public health is front and centre of the media currently, with concerns about the coronavirus outbreak, which was first identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan, splashed across almost every front page. With confirmed cases now reported in numerous countries across the world, we face the possibility of a pandemic. As several experts and commentators have pointed out, in our modern, highly interconnected world no epidemic remains a local concern. This, of course, makes for frightening headlines- which, in turn, calls for calm and informed responses.

David's blog #46: A Year for Compassion

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

So here we are: 2020. Let me start by wishing all of you the very best for the year ahead. I have, occasionally, been accused of an inclination toward cynicism and a failure to look on the bright side of things. So, for my first blog of the year, at least, I am going to be determinedly upbeat. You can judge for yourself how long it lasts. This sense of optimism is influenced by the fact that the end of 2019 saw some positive signs in the world of substance misuse. While it was something of a mad scramble against time, we managed to pull together a high quality and well-supported pan-London Christmas alcohol campaign. I am very grateful to colleagues who delivered the key elements of this work and to everyone who supported it. Some, in fact, went well beyond the call of duty to engage with our colleagues in the blue light services. Although we will not have any data in terms of its reach and impact for some months (I will update you), what I can confidently say is that many individuals and organisations liked the messaging and tone. I like to think it is helping contribute to Londoners having a more considered and healthier relationship with alcohol, though there is a way to go yet!

CITY HEALTH INTERNATIONAL EVENTS

CHI Melbourne 2019

CHI Liverpool 2019

CHI Odessa 2018

CHI Basel 2017

CHI London 2016

CHI Barcelona 2015

CHI Amsterdam 2014

CHI Glasgow 2013

CHI London 2012

City Health International

Founded in 2012 City Health International is a network of individuals and organisations engaged in the study of and response to structural health issues and health behaviours in the urban environment. For the first time in history the majority of the world’s population now live in urban environments and the proportion continues to grow. As national governments struggle to deal with the pressures and demands of growing urban populations against a backdrop of financial deficits and uncertainty, it is increasingly left to those working at a city level to provide the leadership and support needed to tackle key health issues.