What has Health Got to DO with Smart Cities? (The Guardian : 29/08/2017)
Last week, I was one of the panelists on discussions around Emerging Smart Cities in East Africa and my contributions were in the context of “Smart Cities – Health = Sick Citizens”.
UN projects that 70% of world’s population will be urban by 2050, with many cities having more than 10 million inhabitants. Surging growth in demand for resources will make greater efficiency critical – 10 years ago, there were 2.9 billion urban residents worldwide who generated 0.68 billion tons of municipal solid waste per year = 0.64 kg per person. Today it is about 3 billion residents generating 1.2 kg per person per day – 1.2 billion tons per year.
The technologies employed in smart cities play a significant role in reducing costs associated with personal and public health. The closer we get to creating smart cities, the more we discover that the possibilities are endless and will have a direct bearing on individual health and well-being
In very simple terms, Smart City is a city equipped with basic infrastructure to give a decent quality of life and a clean, sustainable environment through the application of some smart solutions. Rapid urbanization and surging growth in demand for resources will make greater efficiency critical – these are efficiencies in areas such as transport management, clean utility and water supply, sewage disposal, pollution control, provision and accessibility of services.
Preventable conditions such as Diarrhea, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Malaria, Respiratory infections, Road Injuries, Stroke have been cited amongst the top 10 causes of death in Tanzania by the World Health Organization (Global Statistics and Global Health Estimates by WHO & UN Partners – Jan 2015). Primary risks for these conditions are Physical inactivity, inappropriate nutrition, air and water pollution, inadequate waste/sewage disposal, sanitation and hygiene and unsafe roads. A city can address these by providing smart and efficient solutions such as:
- Making it easier to eat healthier foods – Kuwait city tied up with major bakeries to reduce salt content in bread to help decrease the incidence of high blood pressure among its citizens.
- Making it easier to live more active lifestyles by providing safe public places and parks, pedestrian and cyclist friendly roads – Singapore introduced a nationwide physical activity program “National Steps Challenge” to introduce a fun way to encourage Singaporeans to sit less and move more through the use of wearable technology and simple data analytics to provide user feedback
- Promoting pollution Control measures such as car pooling, sustainable public transport, parking efficiencies, efficient sewage disposal, clean water and energy efficiencies – Beijing has on-off driving days to decrease the amount of air pollution. Our own DART recently won the prestigious 2018 global award for sustainable transport.
A truly smart city makes it easy for residents to adopt a healthy lifestyle, by creating innovative programs to combat disease and increase the quality of life – whether it is by encouraging preventive medicine, reducing air pollution or providing easy access to parks, nutritious food, and public transportation.
This should not be left to the government alone. In fact, the World Health Organization has identified the workplace as the number one place to fight disease – stating that “the workplace directly influences the physical, mental, economic and social well-being of workers and in turn the health of their families, communities, and society”.
Reply back to bhakti@impactafya.com or call +255 754 694 643 with your feedback. We welcome your suggestions for corporate wellness tips you’d like to see covered in our future columns.
Bhakti Shah, MPH is the Founder and Managing Director of ImpactAfya Ltd, collaborating with Workplace Options and Mayo Clinic, USA to provide Corporate Wellness and EAP Solutions in East Africa. Bhakti is also the Advisor for the Africa Business Portal and the Past President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Tanzania.
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