News & Learning

Building Healthy Cities with USAID & JSI

We are pleased to announce that Thrive Networks has joined the team of organizations implementing the USAID-funded Building Healthy Cities (BHC) project in Da Nang, Vietnam. The project aims to refocus city policies, planning, and services with a health equity lens while improving data-driven decision-making for Smart Cities in Indore, India, and Makassar, Indonesia. Da Nang was recently added as an additional focus city.

Planning for a Smart City is intrinsically linked to health: transportation, the environment, sanitation, education, recreation, technology, and the built environment all influence the health of an urban population. When decision-making and data systems across these areas are harmonized to focus on equitable access to healthy lifestyles, people will benefit from improved access to health services, decreased environmental and lifestyle risk factors for chronic diseases, a lower burden of infectious diseases, and a wider access to data for decision-making. BHC is committed to documenting the processes, successes and failures of the project to bolster global learning on urban health and social determinants of health. To further this goal, BHC is developing dynamic systems maps for each city, that help to document the context, leverage points, and actions taken during the course of the project.

BHC is implemented by JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. (JSI) with partners International Organization for Migration, Thrive Networks Global, and Urban Institute, and with support from Engaging Inquiry, LLC. To learn more about the project, or access reports other materials relevant to urban health, please visit jsi.com/buildinghealthycities.