Kim Young-jong, Mayor of Jongno-gu, Reappointed as Chairman of the Healthy Cities Council... Promotion of Healthy Cities Act Legislation

With the start of the 7th term last year, a dedicated department called 'Geongangdosigwa' was established to promote various related projects... This year, the role of a healthy city becomes even more important amid the COVID-19 crisis

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Jongno-gu, the 7th chair city of the Korea Healthy Cities Partnership (KHCP) (Mayor Kim Young-jong), has been re-elected as the 8th chair city. The term of the 8th chair city is two years, from 2021 to 2022.

KHCP (Korea Healthy Cities Partnership): 대한민국건강도시협의회

Since the start of the 7th chair city term in January 2019, Jongno-gu established the first dedicated department called the ‘Healthy City Division’ in the country and has been promoting various healthy city development projects.

With the philosophy that creating a healthy city for ‘people’ leads to happiness and health for all, Jongno-gu laid the foundation for a healthy city by enacting the ‘Healthy City Basic Ordinance’ in 2009 and joining the Korea Healthy Cities Partnership.

Established in 2006, the partnership aims to realize ‘Health in all policies’ to improve urban health and environment and promote the physical, mental, social, and economic health of residents.

Currently, 103 local governments are full members, and 12 research institutions and organizations are associate members.

Additionally, an academic committee composed of 23 experts operates as an advisory body, adding expertise to the Healthy Cities Partnership. It strengthens domestic and international networks, promotes joint healthy city policies, facilitates mutual exchange, and continuously provides education to enhance the capabilities of healthy city practitioners.

This year, as the role of healthy cities became more important amid the COVID-19 crisis, the partnership recently published an interim report titled ‘Finding the Way for Korea’s Healthy Cities Amid COVID-19,’ which studies future infectious disease prevention measures, response strategies, and the direction healthy cities should take post-COVID-19.

The report is well-structured into five chapters, covering COVID-19 trends from the first domestic confirmed case in January to July, major domestic and international response cases, analysis of survey results from member cities, and expert recommendations on the future direction of healthy cities.

The partnership distributed the report not only to its 103 member cities but also to non-member local governments nationwide, enhancing preparedness for infectious diseases and sharing effective response measures.

To encourage practitioners exhausted from COVID-19 response work, the Korea Healthy Cities Award was presented, along with commendations for meritorious employees and a COVID-19 overcoming story essay contest. Awards and plaques were given to a total of 12 cities and 11 practitioners.

With the start of the 8th chair city term next year, Jongno-gu plans to announce a new joint policy called ‘Climate Change Response’ and conduct detailed projects at the partnership level in collaboration with member cities over the next five years.

Moreover, Jongno-gu intends to support the enactment of the ‘Healthy City Support Act,’ which will strengthen healthy city projects currently implemented under local ordinances and incorporate the healthy city concept into urban environment creation and various policies.

Mayor Kim Young-jong stated, “Based on the passion, effort, and accumulated experience from promoting healthy city projects over the past two years, we will faithfully carry out healthy city development projects with the Korea Healthy Cities Partnership member cities next year. We will also take the lead in sharing excellent healthy city project cases in cooperation with WHO, not only domestically but internationally.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.