Introduction: One of the goals of sustainable development is to
make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. The healthy city
approach is becoming increasingly important in addressing a large
number of urban health problems and promoting healthy lifestyles in
city dwellers.
Objectives: We performed a case study of the healthy city project in
Wonju, South Korea to find out its characteristics and approaches, and
to explore its relevance to the cities in Nepal.
Methods: We conducted a case study of the healthy city Wonju project
by reviewing relevant published articles and web pages of the city
(http://healthycity.wonju.go.kr), alliance for healthy cities, Korean
statistical information service and World Health Organization. We also
reviewed articles and documents related to healthy cities in South-East
Asian countries and Nepal.
Results: The healthy city Wonju project, started in 2004, executed its
five-year plan between 2006 and 2010, and is currently running with
its 10 year long-term plan (2011- 2020). For its success, Wonju City has
been awarded six times by WHO. Recently, Wonju city organized the
seventh global conference of the AFHC in August, 2016 in Wonju with
the main theme of “our cities, our health, our future”. Key features of
the healthy city Wonju project included: Strong political commitment
of local government, financing the healthy city initiative with tobacco
consumption tax, partnerships with universities, well organized healthy
city teams under city administration, coordination with national
and regional healthy cities alliance, community participation, and
involvement in research for evidence-based planning and evaluation.
Nepal, one of the fast urbanizing countries in South-East Asia faces
large number of urban health problems.
Conclusions: Though numbers of cities and city dwellers are
increasing rapidly, Nepal lacks healthy city projects and networking.
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