A release conference for the Healthy City Index 2021 takes place in Beijing on December 23 (TAO XING) 

Public health emergencies and climate change are two key areas requiring large-scale improvements in the development of a healthy urban environment, according to a researcher.    

Quoting UN-Habitat Executive Director Maimunah Mohd Sharif who stated in April 2020 that "over 95 percent of the world's COVID-19 cases occur in urban areas," Li Dong, a senior researcher with the Institute for China's Sustainable Urbanization (ICSU) at Tsinghua University, said the urban environment has become the principal battleground for major public health emergencies. 

Related studies have revealed that climate change, too, can intensify residents' risk at deteriorating health due to extreme weather conditions, Li said. 

Li made the remarks at a conference for the release of the Healthy City Index 2021 in Beijing on December 23. The directory was compiled by the ICSU together with its partners. 

The usual data, such as, the number of hospitals, health infrastructure, environment and pollution conditions aside, the index this year included the COVID-19 management levels in its assessment. According to Li, this specific level of control holds value based on a city's volume and ration of fever clinics and COVID-19 cases, as well as the duration of any arising COVID-19 outbreak. 

The index sampling covered 90 cities across China's provincial regions, accounting for 61.32 percent of GDP and 46.09 percent of the population, Li explained.   

The directory positions Shenzhen and other six cities as leading the health rankings, and Qingdao together with another 16 as the highest-quality ones. It further highlights that the enhancement of healthy cities in China still needs upgrading as the gap between urban sites remains huge, with 70 percent of the cities investigated scoring below average. 

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon  

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