Banana, tomatoes and water instead of candy and soft drinks in the food kiosks of the schools of Córdoba, in Argentina. Air meters to alert and alleviate the pollution that causes respiratory diseases in strength, in Brazil. More smoke -free public spaces in the Great Manchester, in the United Kingdom. The efforts of these three cities when preventing, which cause 46 million deaths every year in the world, were recognized this Thursday in Paris, during the summit, a network that groups more than 70 cities where more than 300 million people live.
“The idea is to invest more in health to spend less on diseases,” he summed up in an interview with this newspaper Daniel Passerini, mayor of the Argentine city of Córdoba. “Today 60% of the food stalls of our municipal schools no longer sell sugary or ultraprocess drinks. In March 2026, we want to reach 100%,” he said.
The causes of noncommunicable diseases, which include chronic cardiovascular and respiratory ailments, cancer, diabetes and also injuries, are often unknown or silenced. But “there is good news: (these diseases) can be prevented,” celebrated Michael R. Bloomberg, former New York formercalde and founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies, which, together with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Vital Sanitary Organization Strategies, supports this alliance and provides cities with technical and financial assistance to the prevention of these ailments.
Between 2010 and 2019, in the Brazilian city of Fortaleza, in the northeast of the country, more than 44% of natural deaths were related to diseases that can be associated with poor air quality, according to figures from the municipal authorities. In 2023, the municipal authorities began to install devices that measure pollution in order to collect data, inform the population, launch public health policies and promote green areas.
“There are currently 30 devices that monitor and the Mayor’s Office wants to place another 50. Strength aspires to be more sustainable, but above all more inclusive: that people also lead these projects and the community is involved in them and does not see them as something complicated and theoretical,” explains El País, Gabriella Aguiar, Vicealcaldesa of the town.
Strength wants to be more sustainable, but above all more inclusive and that people also lead these projects and the community is involved
Gabriella Aguiar, Vicealcaldesa de Fortaleza
Low cost, high impact
At a time when more than half of the world’s population lives in cities, a figure that will continue to increase to 68% in 2050, the cities “are at the forefront of the fight against these diseases,” according to Tedros Adhanom ghebreyesus, CEO of the WHO. “The progress made in Córdoba, Fortaleza and the Great Manchester are not only improving health today, but also serve as a model for others to follow their steps,” the person in charge celebrated, according to a statement distributed by the organizers of this summit, which brought together representatives of 61 cities in Paris.
Each of the localities that is part of this alliance must select an intervention field where the effectiveness to prevent noncommunicable diseases is proven and develop a specific project. The areas are, for example, food policy, heat management, overdose prevention, road safety and tobacco surveillance and control. The winners this Thursday will be able to accelerate the current projects and will have more financial assistance and support, according to members of the Cities Alliance.
For the municipal authorities of Córdoba, the priority was clear. The consumption of “junk food” in the last 20 years increased by more than 80%, according to Passerini. And today, more than 40% of the city’s children are overweight. It is not easy to reverse this trend, admits the mayor, because the little ones are surrounded by stimuli and advertising to consume such unhealthy foods. “They are very worrying indicators, because in addition to obesity, this diet produces other diseases, from dental problems to cardiovascular complications, diabetes and risk of brain ailments in adult life,” he says.
Modifying an eating habit we will achieve a sanitary result. It is a political decision of low economic cost but with high impact.
Daniel Passerini, Alcalde de Córdoba
In Argentina, healthy eating must already be promoted, but in 2024, Passerini approved a decree to launch these points of sale of healthy food in Córdoba, to the detriment of those that already existed in most municipal schools. The initiative is a pioneer in Argentina. “We are convinced that this is the first step. Modifying an eating habit we will achieve a sanitary result. It is a political decision of low economic cost, but with high impact. And to achieve results, we work in union with the fathers and mothers and the educational community,” he explained.
The next step will be to create safe areas of about 200 meters around schools and expand this program to the provincial education system and private centers. “The school is the place where the behaviors that will be repeated in life are molded. If from the age of five there are healthy habits and physical exercise, a child will have more health opportunities and that is the goal,” said the mayor.
In strength, in addition to air quality, it has also been decided to evaluate the impact of extreme heat, a cause of health problems that is not taken into account or notified as such, according to Aguiar. In this city of 2.5 million inhabitants, the average temperature is around 25 and 30 degrees, but in some moments and in some areas, called heat islands, the thermal sensation can be 45-50 degrees Celsius.
“In the Metropolitan Area of Fortaleza there are about 860 neighborhoods of different sizes and it is in these most disadvantaged places where heat is higher. But there is never talk of heat as a health problem, it is simply reported that a person reaches a medical center with the low voltage or general discomfort,” said Aguiar, stressing that the town is one of the most unequal in Brazil and more than 40% of its inhabitants lives in a situation of poverty.
The city has decided to link the two projects technically and financially supported by this cities alliance and, where the air quality monitors were, the devices to measure heat are also placed. Aguiar explains that the ultimate goal is to “live better in the city and also generate income”, for example, with the promotion of urban agriculture in the green areas that are expanding. “And when the economy is stimulated, popular acceptance is stronger,” he concludes.
