Bengaluru honoured with $150K global award for tobacco control efforts

Bengaluru was honoured with the 2023 Partnership for Healthy Cities Award, along with Montevideo, Mexico City, Vancouver and Athens

Bengaluru is one of the five cities that on Wednesday received a prestigious $150,000 award from the World Health Organisation for its tobacco control efforts, particularly reduction of smoking in public places.

Bengaluru received the award for its efforts in tobacco control, specifically, reducing smoking in public places and improving compliance with existing mandates on public smoking bans, the WHO said in a statement from London.

Other four winning cities are Athens (for efforts to reduce drug use), Mexico City (improving road safety), Montevideo (access to better nutrition for people) and Vancouver (making public health data more inclusive and accessible).

The five cities were recognised for their achievements in preventing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and injuries at the inaugural Partnership for Healthy Cities Summit in London.

The summit brought together mayors and officials from more than 50 cities to discuss urgent public health concerns and best practices that save lives and create healthier cities.

"The five cities demonstrate that mayors can drive powerful progress to protect the health of their citizens,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “WHO remains committed to working through the Partnership for Healthy Cities to support mayors around the world to build cities that promote and protect health, rather than harm it."

Founded in 2017, the Partnership for Healthy Cities is a prestigious global network of 70 cities working together to prevent NCDs and injuries.

Supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies in partnership with the WHO and an NGO named Vital Strategies, the initiative enables cities around the world to deliver a high-impact policy or programmatic intervention to reduce NCDs and injuries in their communities. Each of the five winning cities received $ 150 000 to further their work.

With the majority of the global population living in cities and towns, ensuring the health and well being of residents in our world’s urban centers is crucial. NCDs – including heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory diseases – and injuries are responsible for over 80% of all deaths globally.

Cities are uniquely positioned to transform the fight against NCDs and injuries by implementing policies to significantly reduce exposure to risk factors.

“NCDs and injuries pose the number-one threat to global public health. Mayors worldwide are increasingly uniting to confront it, and the Partnership for Healthy Cities will continue to support their urgent and lifesaving work,” said Michael R Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies and WHO Global Ambassador for NCD and Injuries.