Healthy Partnerships and Health City Planning in Local Government in Queensland.

Abstract

Creating healthier cities requires an integrated approach to planning at the local level. Working partnerships have been established in 18 local government communities in Queensland (Qld) to develop and implement Municipal Public Health Planning (MPHP) - the building block for a Healthy City. The Healthy Cities and Shires Network, Qld facilitates partnerships and learning environments between local government and community agencies to plan for heath. The paper will discuss the following issues: - 1. activities of the Network and CEPH; 2. urban planning schemes; 3. Healthy City and 'Seven-Step MPHP'; 4. Implementation and Evaluation issues; and 5. the 'Platform Approach'. Urban planning provides consistency for major infrastructure and land development and social health planning is an important factor in this process. A 'seven step' planning model provides the framework for healthy city needs-based planning in Qld. Organisational capacity has been built in networking and support, political and community advocacy, agency communication, health profiling, gap analysis, action planning and monitoring and evaluation. A 'Platform Approach' for partnership development has been constructed. This model advocates for government and non-government agencies and community members to form a network and engage in the business of sustainable strategic health planning on a common platform. Barriers to planning and implementation success factors will be highlighted in the paper and recommendations will be made for best practice health planning.