Published in News
The Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD) is pleased to announce that its Associate Members have pledged USD $39 million to fund 16 new projects aimed at addressing chronic non-communicable diseases (NCD) risk factors associated with city environments.
Cities offer significant social, cultural, and economic opportunities and have the potential to become engines of good health and climate change adaptation. Currently, more than half of the world’s population lives in cities, a figure projected to rise to 68% by 2050. However, urban environments often contribute to the NCD epidemic through factors such as air, water, and soil pollution; lack of greenspace; urban heat islands; insufficient safe infrastructure for walking, cycling, and active living; and the widespread availability of tobacco, alcohol, and unhealthy foods and beverages.
Innovative health-focused programmes, policies, and infrastructure such as public smoking bans, bikeable streets, greenspaces, vehicle emission laws, and food policies targeting salt reduction, trans fats, and sweet beverages can shape the behaviours of millions and reduce exposure to environmental contaminants.
The projects funded by this joint call aim to generate relevant and applicable evidence to enhance our understanding of how specific interventions can be better adapted to different city environments and scaled within and across cities. These projects will consider unique local social, ecological, political, economic, and cultural contexts.
GACD’s CEO, Dr Morven Roberts, said, “GACD remains a unique alliance of international funders and researchers at the forefront of delivering impactful implementation research that can inform the prevention and management of the global burden of chronic non-communicable diseases. Through the Healthy Cities programme, we aim to address the challenges of NCDs and significantly improve the health and well-being of people and cities globally.”