Healthy market places

Overview

The home, the school, the village, food markets, bus stations, the workplace: these are all typical settings where people live and work, and spend a certain amount of time in close proximity to each other on a regular basis. The health status of the population is determined as much, or more, by the conditions in these settings as by the provision of health care. Different holistic concepts have been developed in recent years that aim to make the environment supportive for health, not merely identifying hazards, but supporting and improving the settings in such a way that health is maintained and promoted. Some examples of these concepts include the WHO healthy city programme, as well as regional WHO initiatives such as the basic development needs initiative, or the healthy islands programme.