SALURBAL researchers, together with partners at the Pan American Health Organization, lead a series of panel discussions and plenary talks across the three days of the conference focused on Urban Health in Latin America and the Caribbean. See here for a full description of all conference panel discussion sessions across all themes.

Place-based drivers of health and health inequities in urban areas: Lessons from SALURBAL

Tuesday 6 July 2021

Neighborhood and city social and physical environments can determine a wide range of health outcomes, and differences in these environments can lead to inequities in health outcomes within cities and across cities.

This panel discussion focused on aspects of urban city and sub-city environments in Latin America that are associated with self-reported health, diabetes, homicides, and infant mortality. The presented research summarized select findings from the SALURBAL project, which analyzes urban data from over 350 cities in the region to reveal how cities impact health outcomes, health inequities, and environmental sustainability.

Moderator: Alejandra Vives

Panelists: Joanna Miguez Nery Guimarães, Ariela Braverman Bronstein, Uriel Moreira Silva, Ana Ortigoza

Evaluating the health impacts of urban policies in Latin American cities: Lessons from SALURBAL

Wednesday 7 July 2021

Policies and interventions in many sectors (including transport, housing, urban planning, and others) affect the health of people living in cities. With the right information and evidence, cities can design policies across these sectors to promote health and environmental sustainability. Evaluating existing urban policies provides important evidence to policymakers as they design and implement future policies and interventions. These evaluations also improve understanding of the challenges and opportunities associated with real-world policy evaluations, providing lessons to support future research design and implementation.

This panel discussed SALURBAL-implemented health evaluations of urban policies and interventions implemented in Latin American cities.

Moderator: Waleska Caiaffa

Panelists: Alejandra Vives, Amelia Augusta de Lima Friche, Olga Lucia Sarmiento, Alejandra Jauregui de la Mota, Carolina Perez Ferrer

Characterizing the built and physical environments of cities and their environmental and health consequences: Lessons from SALURBAL

Wednesday 7 July 2021

Research conducted in high income countries has documented the influence of urban built and physical environments on health outcomes, health equity, and environmental factors. However, evidence from lower income countries and the Latin America region specifically is scarce.

This panel discussion examined the relationships of street design, urban form, green space, and population density with a variety of health outcomes including diabetes, road traffic mortality, and homicides. The presented research summarized select findings from the SALURBAL project, which analyzes urban data to reveal how cities impact health outcomes, health inequities, and environmental sustainability.

Moderator: Daniel Rodriguez

Panelists: D. Alex Quistberg, Cecilia Anza, Mika Moran, Ione Avila-Palencia

Regional movement of healthy municipalities, cities and communities

Wednesday 7 July 2021

This discussion brought together multiple perspectives on local action for promoting a health in all policies approach and community participation, highlighting the role of city networks while drawing on examples of COVID-19 responses.

Managers of national networks of healthy municipalities, representatives of municipal associations, mayors from across the region, and regional experts exchanged ideas about the healthy municipalities approach, the experience implementing this approach in the region to-date, and next steps toward building a regional network for healthy municipalities, cities, and communities in Latin America.

Moderator: Anselmo Cancino

Panelists: Gerry Eijkemans, Adriana Stanford, Raul Shifferli, Edvaldo Nogueira

Urban governance for health and wellbeing in Latin American cities

Thursday 8 July 2021

This panel focused on governance mechanisms for promoting health and wellbeing in cities across the region, as well as challenges and opportunities for urban health equity in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery. Discussion centered around the role of community members and civil society in decision-making at the city level, and an exchange of successful examples of intersectoral collaboration.

With the participation of city officials as well as regional governance experts, this panel analyzed the role and toll of the pandemic on governance in cities, the driving forces behind increasing disparities both within and across cities, and opportunities to strengthen governance structures to support health and wellbeing at the local level.

Moderator: Gerry Eijkemans

Panelists: Ana Diez Roux, Diana Alarcon, Johny Araya

Air pollution, heat, and climate vulnerability in Latin American cities: Lessons from SALURBAL

Thursday 8 July 2021

Human health and the health of the planet are closely linked. In addition to economic and social consequences, climate change can have profound and widespread impacts on health. People living in cities in Latin America are especially vulnerable to the health consequences of both greenhouse gas emissions and the consequences of climate change.

The presented research summarized select findings from the SALURBAL project on levels and predictors of air pollution and climate vulnerability in Latin American cities and on the impacts or air pollution and heat on health.

Moderator and presenters: Nelson Gouveia, Ana Ortigoza, Josiah Kephart, Anne Dorothée Slovic

Systems thinking for urban health in Latin America: Lessons from SALURBAL

Thursday 8 July 2021

Cities are complex systems. Systems thinking approaches can provide insight into the dynamic relationships between the urban environment, health, and environmental impact. Systems approaches can help researchers to identify the potential and likely impacts of urban policies under different conditions. The SALURBAL focuses its systems research on two specific areas, using several different methodologies: urban food systems and urban transportation systems.

This panel describes SALURBAL’s activities implementing community-based systems dynamics workshops and developing agent-based models to better understand the potential and likely impacts of specific transport and food policies in Latin American cities.

Moderator and presenters: Ana Diez Roux, Felipe Montes Jimenez, Brent Langellier, Ivana Stankov, Sofía Baquero