Health risks faced by India’s urban population
India’s urban inhabitants experience multi-scalar health risks.
It includes the world’s highest levels of air and noise pollution, limited greenery, lack of access to sidewalks and parks that limit active lifestyles.
In addition to, pernicious access to nutritionally dense unhealthy foods and unprecedented exposure to toxic chemicals and heavy metals.
This concatenation of exposures dramatically magnifies health risks for heart disease and diabetes, referred to as cardiometabolic disease.
Health risks faced by India’s urban population
The cities of India are amidst an epidemic of historic proportions in these disorders.
Globally, there are seven key physical provisioning systems that provide food, energy, mobility-transportation, housing, green infrastructure, water and waste management that lie at the core of human health, well-being, equity and sustainability.
Dysfunctional provisioning systems consume more than 90% of the world’s water and global CO2 emissions and facilitate an estimated 19 million premature deaths annually.
Health risks faced by India’s urban population
The socio-spatial-political design of urban provisioning systems in India.
These are legacies of a colonial past, manifests in and exacerbates social inequalities in cities, by class, race, age, migrant and disability status.
These will translate to vast disparities in health risks and outcomes.
A new narrative for improving health and well-being in cities is needed.
This is reflected in several high-level policy frameworks, such as the United Nations SDG framework, the New Urban Agenda, and the Health in All Policies approach.
Holistic approach to address these challenges
Studies that have modelled the economic and health impact of the clean energy transition in the transportation sector.
Ensuring that the transition to electric cars also paves the way for active transport options.
Walking paths and bicycling lanes connect the the health and consequent economic benefits of active transportation.
On top of the benefits of reducing air pollution, making such investments even more economically viable.
Thus, increasing active transportation by any means must be a critical component of a clean energy policy.
Policies that encourage fresh fruits and vegetables and limit sugars and salt in beverages.
Which may have the largest impact on health outcomes such as obesity, Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease.
Urban policies are powerful public health interventions that can serve to promote population health.
Health is, unfortunately, an afterthought in most national urban planning policies.
Mostly non-existent in national urban policy documents from lower and middle-income countries.
Unhealthy diets, reduced physical activity and air pollution in cities in India pose a greater risk to morbidity and mortality.
These need to be dealt with on a war footing if India is going to make progress in its fight against cardiovascular disease, obesity and T2D.
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