Table 2.
UHOs’ objectives
| Observatory | Objectives |
|---|---|
| London Health Observatory (LHO) London, England | • Become London’s premier source of health intelligence and health knowledge |
| • Ensure that outputs are scientifically robust and represent best evidential practice | |
| • Provide understandable information, data, and interpretation that are used by decision-makers, politicians, and the public to influence health and reduce health inequalities | |
| • Provide a responsive approach to stakeholder inquiries | |
| Observatório de Saúde Urbana de Belo Horizonte (OSUBH) Belo Horizonte, Brazil | • Produce research related to the urban setting |
| • Contribute to the training of health academics and professionals | |
| • Systematically analyze health events and their determinants | |
| • Produce methods of measuring the attributes of the urban context | |
| • Establish a data warehouse for the systematic analysis of urban health data | |
| • Publish scientific articles and disseminate information which is accessible to the media | |
| • Present knowledge produced to partner institutions | |
| • Seek sustainability and legitimacy of the OSUBH | |
| Observatorio del Derecho a la Salud (ODSP) Lima, Peru | • Promote the surveillance capacity of social policies and health programs from a gender perspective |
| • Comply with international human rights commitments in health with emphasis on sexual and reproductive health | |
| Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System (NUHDSS/APHRC) Nairobi, Kenya | • Increased generation and synthesis of scientific knowledge on population, health, and education in Africa |
| • Strengthen individual and institutional research capacity in sub-Saharan Africa for better generation and use of research evidence | |
| • Greater engagement with policymakers, practitioners, and other stakeholders for better utilization of research evidence in local, national, and regional policy formulation and action | |
| • Enhanced operations and prudent management of finances, human resources, programs, and other services | |
| Observatori de la Salut Pública (OSP/ASPB) Barcelona, Spain | • To analyze and monitor the health and its determinants of the population of Barcelona |
| • To do the surveillance of infectious diseases in Barcelona | |
| • To evaluate new public health interventions to be implemented in the city | |
| Bangladesh Urban Health Network (BUHN) Dhaka, Bangladesh | • Act as the policy advocate to enhance the status of Bangladesh urban heath |
| • Facilitate the exchange of perspectives, research methods, and data on the study of diseases in urban areas | |
| • Evaluate and help develop programs that reduce urban health hazards and promote well-being of people living in urban areas | |
| • Provide an informal and open association for review and discussion of issues of common interest with focus on urban health | |
| Observatorio de Salud Urbana–Guatemala (OSUG) Guatemala City, Guatemala | • Permanently monitor the urban health conditions with reference to the social determinants of health |
| • Implement operational areas in order to mainstream urban health concerns and characteristics resulting in a foundation for targeting priority actions in planning, prevention, and resolutions | |
| • Systematically analyze public policies in the field of urban health |