Major Alliance-Building Events
Launch at WSSD
HECA was officially presented and inaugurated at the World Summit for Sustainable Development (26 August - 4 September 2002, Johannesburg). The Alliance was presented as a "Type-2 Initiative" at the session "Individual Partnerships for Sustainable Development" on 29 August, and inaugurated at an evening reception on 1 September. Read more about HECA's launch at WSSD.
3-4 December 2002 Alliance-Building Meeting
The first alliance-building meeting subsequent to WSSD took place at WHO HQ, 3 - 4 December 2002. Approximately 80 representatives of NGOs, UN and intergovernmental organizations, governments, academia and the private sector attended the meeting. Participants agreed that healthy environments for children warranted greater global attention and scaled-up efforts, and that an alliance was an appropriate mechanism to move forward in this area. The following meeting documentation is available:
- Meeting Report (PDF, 365KB)
- List of Participants (PDF, 168KB)
- Informal Discussion Document (PDF, 91.9KB)
- PowerPoint slides - Combining “Keynote” and “Methods of Work” presentations. (PDF, 1.97MB)
World Health Day 2003
Celebrated 7 April, the theme for this year's World Health Day (WHD) is "Healthy Environments for Children." The objectives of WHD are two-fold: to increase awareness, understanding, and action on healthy environments for children; and to push healthy environments for children higher up the world's political and development agenda. For more information on the day, see the WHD 2003 Web site or link to the final report:
- World Health Day 2003 Final Report (PDF, 1.83MB)
- Events Summary Appendix (PDF, 397KB)
- Media Coverage Examples Appendix (PDF, 188KB)
Round Tables on Healthy Environments for Children at the World Health Assembly
Four ministerial round-table discussions on healthy environments for children were held concurrently on 20 May 2003, during the Fifty-sixth World Health Assembly. Ministers of health or their representatives analysed the issue and indicated how the challenges posed by unhealthy environments could best be tackled. They shared information on best practices, identified means of overcoming major constraints and obstacles to success, highlighted essential policy interventions and action strategies, examined the role of the health and other sectors in improving children’s environmental health, and made recommendations to WHO and the Healthy Environments for Children Alliance to take forward work in this area.
- Background Document (A56/DIV/4)
- Report by the Secretariat (A56/DIV/10)
- Images from the Roundtables
9-10 June 2003 Meeting of the Alliance-Building Task Force
The purpose of the 9-10 June 2003 meeting of the Alliance-Building Task Force, in Washington D.C., was to develop and secure agreement on the functions, expected achievements, structure, and operation of the Alliance. More information.