8 April 2010 - Different stakeholders in Afghanistan’s eastern regional hub of Jalalabad today vowed to make the city cleaner by mobilizing students, youths and local denizens.

Observing the World Health Day in the Nangarhar provincial capital, representatives of the provincial government, line departments and civil society said they would do their part to give the city a better look.

About 300 people, including government officials, community elders, university students and representatives from United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and World Health Organization (WHO) joined hands to mark the day in Jalalabad, a day after it was officially observed worldwide with the message of raising awareness on health consequences of rapid urbanization.

Dr Baz Muhamad Shirzad, deputy director of public health, said the official ceremony was postponed by a day due to a security incident in the city, which saw the death of a civilian.

Dr Shirzad expressed his satisfaction with the work of municipality and the support shown by the local people in keeping the city clean.

Speaking at the ceremony held in Jalalabad, Abuzahid, Acting Director of Education of Nangarhar, said his office would help the municipality in removing dust, a major environment problem, from the city through voluntary mobilization of school students.

“We highly appreciate the efforts of Jalalabad Municipality to keep the city clean, but we still need to speed up our work,” said Mr Abuzahid.

For the ceremony to mark the World Health Day, the jam-packed hall of Jalalabad Municipality was decorated with WHO banners with messages like “walking by foot or using bicycles are not only useful for health but also protect the environment”, “in order to be healthy, you should walk or engage in sports or physical work for at least 30-60 minutes a day” and “keep your house and environment clean because it may cause different diseases“, among others.

According to WHO, the rapid increase in the number of urban dwellers will be among the most important global health issues of the 21st century.

In 2007, the world’s population living in cities surpassed 50 per cent for the first time in history, and this proportion is growing.

Unplanned urbanization has consequences for the health and safety of all citizens in cities.

WHO has an initiative – “1000 cities, 1000 lives” – to engage 1000 cities across the world in a set of activities intended to create physical, mental and environmental health benefits, substantial opportunities for small business, and an overall boost in the well-being of participating cities and their citizens. Jalalabad is one of the 1,000 world cities to be engaged in the campaign. There are five other Afghan cities among the 1,000.

Deputy Provincial Governor Muhamad Alam Esaqzai said the government would fully support the municipality and the directorate of public health in their endeavours to keep the city clean.

Deputy Mayor of Jalalabad, Engineer Hakeem, thanked cleaners and labourers of the city, who have been relentlessly working even during nights.

“Enormous dust and garbage will pile up in the city if the municipality stops its work even for a week,” said Eng Hakeem, seeking active support of the local people.

Dr Khushal, chairperson of Doctors’ Association in Jalalabad, said that more is needed to be done in the health sector and the starting point could be keeping the city cleaner.

The ceremony was followed by gymnastics and karate performances by young sportsmen from the Sports Department of Jalalabad.

By Shafiqullah Waak, UNAMA

Website: WHO in Afghanistan