“Asian Urban Health Network (AUHN)” was conceptualized during a special Satellite Meeting on Urban Health Issues held in the Annual Conference of ICDDRB (International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh) in Dhaka on March 5th, 2007. The purpose of network is to form a platform for sharing knowledge and program experience on urban health. There was an agreement by the representative of five South Asia countries namely Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to form a network on urban health starting with these five countries. More about meeting……
Later in September 5, 2007 during the " Scaling up FP/MNCH Best Practices in Asia and the Near East Technical Meeting” held in Bangkok, Thailand, the idea of the networking on urban health was reinforced. A special session on urban health MNCRH was organized which were participated by the countries - Bangladesh, Kenya, Nepal, Indonesia, Combodia, Philippines, Jordon, USA and India. More about meeting……
In the recent period, population of the world has grown proportionately more urbanized. Since 1995 to 2005, Asia’s urban population has increased from 1.18 billion to 1.56 billion. By 2000, Asia had 10 out of 20 largest cities in the world, the so-called mega-cities having populations of over 10 million . Urban poverty is one of the serious problems that the Asian countries are facing today. It is projected that by 2030, Asia’s urban population will raise up to 2.64 billion . Thousands of people are drawn to cities by the opportunity for better jobs and a better quality of life; those dreams often go unrealized and they land up staying in slums and they suffer from crowded and unhygienic living conditions without access to basic services. As a consequence, urban poor suffer from high incidence of morbidity and mortality. The health of urban poor is worse off than the urban non poor population
Poverty is one of the major determinants of ill health. Most of the health issues of urban poor are left unattended due to many reasons such as lack of availability and accessibility of health centre to the urban poor habitations. Focusing on the urban health is crucial for attainment of universal health care for all. The urban poor make a vital contribution to the economic prosperity and development of the country. Therefore appropriate policy or programmatic focus is requiring to ensure their health and well being.
This network intends to provide a common platform for organizations working in urban health and related areas to share resources as program experience, foster collaboration and nurture solidarity. It will also serve as advocacy platform for donor, Government and non government sectors, corporate world, researcher or scholar, media and civil societies. The network would not only facilitate mutual learning and information sharing, but also, exchange or access the health related data among Asian countries, help organizations to devise better programs and policies in their respective regions for improving health of the urban poor.
