Innovation in Health and Well-being
ADVANCE EFFORTS TO IMPROVE THE HEALTH OF THE COMMUNITY. The Manchester Health Department (MHD) completed an update to the City’s Health Needs Assessment in June 2019. In it, the MHD identified several priorities aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of the residents of Manchester. Among them are strategies related to the built environment. Innovative ways to link people to healthcare and otherwise support healthy living through quality education, living-wage employment, housing choices, and active transportation are being tested in communities throughout the U.S. Manchester has an opportunity to examine the development pattern and modify the mix of uses and form of development to effect change for better health. •
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Focus on providing programs and places that support people’s ability to build and strengthen social networks. According to the results of the Health Needs Assessment, two of the primary health outcomes examined— length of life and quality of life and poverty—can be affected by social connections. With an aging population in Manchester, this is
Plan Manchester 2021
especially important for seniors as they become less mobile. In addition, seek ways through transit service or safe pedestrian facilities to help people access parks, community centers, and other venues where programs, events, and other activities are available. •
Utilize technology to help improve community health. In addition to enhancing access to education and employment opportunities in an effort to address socioeconomic conditions correlated to health disparities, the City can use technology to collect data about and evaluate conditions in the City that affect health. By focusing on the determinants of poor health, the City can consider strategies that employ technology to understand better the circumstances that contribute to identified health problems.
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Adopt a Health in All Policies (HiAP) approach to community development. This approach, first formally addressed as the theme of the Eighth International Conference on Health Promotion held in 2013 by the World Health Organization,
