The One Health 4 Cities Network pioneer the topic of One Health implemented in the urban environment.
The network is comprised by nine cities, bring light on how to implement the One Health approach in urban public policies, strategies, and projects. One Health 4 Cities aims to develop tools that empower decision-makers and operational teams to increase the positive impact of urban projects on the well-being and health of people, animals, and the environment.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), One Health is an integrated approach to designing and implementing programs, policies, legislation, and research. This approach aims at “balancing and optimising the health of people, animals and environment”. It is crucial to prevent, predict, detect, and respond to global health threats. One Health policy implies for multiple sectors of public action to communicate and work together to achieve better public health outcomes. In addition, the One Health approach can protect vulnerable groups with non-communicable and chronic diseases by reducing the impact and spread of transmissible diseases.
The network fosters a collaborative environment where the partners come together to learn and share experiences: Benissa (ES), Elefsina (GR), Kuopio (FI), Lahti (FI), Loulé (PT), Lyon (FR), Munich (DE), Eurometropolis of Strasbourg (FR), Suceava (RO) under the leadership of the City of Lyon (FR).
The journey of this network started in June of 2023 and will conclude in December of 2025. The network has established a baseline study and a joint network roadmap defining how the partners will work and learn together on the topic of One Health.
The Baseline Study and Network Roadmap
The baseline study describes the network’s challenge and outlines our policy priority within the EU context. The study and network roadmap seek to capture each city's starting point and local context, explore partners’ needs and experiences, and clarify shared learning objectives for the network. It sets the framework for customized exchanges and learning methodology on the transnational level over the next two years, supporting the development of local integrated action plans for the nine partners.
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What we delivered on the first quarter of 2024
The full network met in Lahti, in Finland to explore how to develop One Health integrated strategies (such as the Nature Step to Health 10 years strategy in Lahti), learning about local initiatives such as the Health Forest and explore further the health and wellbeing culture of Finish people (participating to the People & Planet Conference, 2024). A smaller group continued north of Lahti, to the city of Kuopio to deepen their knowledge on the relationships of nature and health, exploring local practices, learning from forest schools practices and walking in the silent woods that surround the city.
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