Center for Health Market Innovations (CHMI)

Programs

Urban HEART (Health Equity Assessment and Response Tool)

last updated Sep 27, 2011

Overview

Implementing organization: 
WHO
Legal Status: 
State/government
Year Launched: 
2008
Stage: 
Existing/expansion stage
Income Level of Target Population: 
All income levels

Funding

Primary Source of Funding: 
Donor
Funders: 
WHO
Summary: 

The Urban HEART (Health Equity Assessment and Response Tool) is an instrument (guidelines) developed by WHO Kobe Center to help countries assess and understand the health conditions in urban areas. It aims to provide guidance to local policy makers to curb health inequities in their localities.

Key program components: 

Urban HEART is a planning, monitoring and evaluation tool for the highly urbanized cities in the Philippines. Results from its assessments are used by local policy makers to determine which health problems need to be immediately addressed. Urban HEART gives policy-makers and key stakeholders at national and local levels a user-friendly guide to assess and respond to urban health inequities. Specifically, the tool aims to:

  • guide policy makers and key stakeholders in understanding the social determinants of health
  • entice policy makers and stakeholders to prioritize interventions that are suited to the needs of the most vulnerable population
  • help communities find gaps, identify priorities and interventions, to achieve health equity
  • support program managers in enhancing collaboration with other sectors in improving social determinants of health

To assess the situation in each locality, 26 health outcomes and health-related social indicators are collected. These indicators are then summarized and used as performance benchmarks to compare a particular localities performance in (a) its current year performance vs previous years and (b) its performance compared to the national standards. The results of the tool are then used to prioritize the problems that the locality needs to address urgently. A set of 300 interventions are available for the locality to adopt, depending on the findings that the tool generated.

Program history: 

Since the launch of the pilot programme in 2008, Urban HEART has been pilot-tested in cities in Brazil, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam.

Hide this

Need help?

Using the CHMI Programs Database

  • Browse: Browse the database by applying one or more filters to narrow your search by characteristics. Click the "x" to remove any of the filters you've selected. Click "reset search" to remove all filters and start over.
  • Search: Search the database for a specific program by typing a name or keyword into the search box.
  • Add: If the program you're looking for is not in the CHMI database, submit the program to the CHMI pipeline by clicking here to add a program profile.
  • Update: If you notice incorrect or outdated information, or would like to help complete a profile for a CHMI pipeline program, request a change by clicking here, or at the top of the program profile.

Have a question? Check the FAQs first. Don’t see your question? Contact us.