Department of Health, Taipei City Government

Eighth Global Conference of the Alliance for Healthy Cities Taipei Showcases Excellent Results Display of Soft Power

The Eighth Global Conference of the Alliance for Healthy Cities (AFHC) was held in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia between October 17–19 (Wed.–Fri.), 2018. Lin Hsiu-Liang—Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Health, Taipei City Government—led a delegation which included the Department of Sports, Department of Social Welfare, and Xinyi District Health Center, among other units, to the conference, as to conduct academic exchanges through oral reports, display posters, keynote speeches, and so forth.
Taipei City Government and its affiliated agencies were honored with 49 opportunities to showcase their achievements, including 3 oral presentations, 36 display posters, and submission of 9 manuscripts for the AFHC's Award for Creative Developments in Healthy Cities and one manuscript for the AFHC's Award for Pioneers in Healthy Cities. Taipei City's institutions shared their experiences and achievements in healthy city promotion, earning the attention and praise of attendees! The Department of Health's "I-Health - Unobstructed Information for E-prevention of Cancer" and Xinyi District Health Center's "The mode of NCDs community services ~ connecting partnerships of basic organizations and developing 'Xinyi Neighborhood Health Day'" were both recipients of the Award for Creative Developments in Healthy Cities. Once again, these accolades bear witness to Taipei's soft power in healthy city promotion as well as the city's exemplary global image.
 

Connecting with Healthy Cities Across the Globe

Taipei began promoting healthy city policies in 2002, with methods such as promoting international exchanges and diplomacy between cities, encouraging public participation, and working closely with communities. Healthy city and safe community projects were gradually implemented, centered on communities as a platform. Huang Shier-Chieg—Commissioner of the Department of Health, Taipei City Government—stated that in 2016, under the Taipei Healthy City Promotion Association, Taipei succeeded in becoming an associate member of the World Health Organization-Alliance for Healthy Cities (WHO-AFHC), thus joining the ranks of global healthy cities! In 2017, Ko Wen-Je—mayor of Taipei—and Ying Yong—mayor of Shanghai—led delegations to jointly hold the 2017 Taipei-Shanghai Forum under the main theme of "Healthy Cities". There, they shared their experiences in urban development in order to create sustainable environments and healthier lifestyles for their citizens. In June 2018, the mayors and chairmen of 7 WHO-AFHC member countries visited Taipei City Government to share with Mayor Ko Wen-Je their experiences in promoting healthy cities.
The biannual Global Conference of the Alliance for Healthy Cities (AFHC) was held in Kuching City, Sarawak, Malaysia during October 2018. The event attracted over a thousand experts, scholars, and professionals in the field from 10 countries to share their experiences in promoting and planning healthy city projects. The theme of the conference was "Our Cities, Our SDGs, Our Journey". Taipei City's 7 departments and 12 affiliated agencies were honored with 49 opportunities to showcase their achievements: 3 oral presentations, 36 display posters, 9 "Creative Developments in Healthy Cities" reports, and one "Pioneers in Healthy Cities" report. Taipei presented its efforts in building a friendly and livable city, establishing a children's healthcare network, promoting senior participation through fall-prevention courses, and fostering healthy communities, all aimed to achieve the goal of becoming a healthy city. This showcases Taipei City's soft power in healthcare.
 

Interdisciplinary Integration
Laying the Foundations for a Livable, Sustainable City

The key policy implementation of Taipei City Government's strategic map consists in "improving health and safety". Taipei City Government set 67 indicators in three major areas—healthcare, safety, and age-friendliness—in compliance with the WHO's 32 healthy city indicators, the UN's 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), and Taiwan's 30 age-friendly city indicators. Additionally, Taipei attaches importance to public opinion and guidance by experts and scholars, and implements interdepartmental collaboration to provide citizens with thoughtful services that can be felt by the public. Taipei City Government timely references international healthy city trends, participating in global healthy city exchanges and learning from other cities' experiences of innovative policy implementation in order to build a livable, sustainable city.