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Cork Healthy Cities Action Plan Seminar
Cork is a designated World Health Organisation (WHO) Healthy City since January 2012. With this designation is a requirement of the local authority to commit to health and a process and structure to achieve it. In this seminar Denise Cahill (Healthy Cities Co-coordinator) described initiatives that are underway in Cork city to increase the number of green spaces and open up different spaces (including streets and the river) for recreation, play and exercise. Initiatives/groups linked to Cork Healthy Cities include Green Spaces for Health, the Playful Paradigm Project, and the Cork Age Friendly City Programme.
Denise also described a collaboration between Cork Healthy Cities and a number of stakeholders to promote better mental health in workplaces across Cork city and to develop greater understanding and reduce stigma towards mental illness in the community.
The discussion on healthy cities was located in the wider context of health inequalities and the social determinants of health.
The event was hosted by the ISS21 Society, Health and Political Economy (SHAPE) Research Cluster. Dr Eluska Fernandez, the cluster convenor, chaired the seminar.
Speaker
Denise Cahill is the Healthy Cities Co-coordinator in Cork City. She has worked as a researcher in the area of Public Health and has been employed in the area of health promotion for the past 16 years. Denise has worked in the areas of Schools Health Promotion, Physical Activity and Tobacco Control. In more recent years she has developed her understanding and commitment to community health promotion and has coordinated the health profile of Cork City in support of World Health Organisation recognition of Cork as a Healthy City in 2012.
For more on this story contact:
Dr Eluska Fernandez (e.fernandez@ucc.ie).