At its most recent meeting, last week, the Raanana City Council authorized Raanana’s joining the international network of healthy cities, in order to expand its activity in the community -  among the city’s residents, businesses and organizations involved in the field of health, quality of life and the environment.

Mayor Nahum Hofree noted Raanana’s joining the international network of healthy cities with pride and said:  “We consider ourselves committed to improving and protecting the health of our residents, according to the principles and values of the other healthy cities in Israel and overseas, which include fairness, equality, empowerment, partnership and sustainable development.”
The City Council also authorized the appointment of attorney, Deputy Mayor Orit Sayad-Yitzchaki,  to chair the health committee, which will represent all the parties in the city council, through public representatives who are affiliated with the health fields.  The municipality intends to prepare a municipal program to promote health issues, while also relating to education, environment, society and economics, and to work to increase the number of programs to promote health and environment at educational institutions in the community and among municipal employees.   An emphasis will be placed on proper nutrition, eating disorders among adolescents, physical activity and disease prevention.

Raanana’s joining the network is another step in the activity initiated by the municipal administration for sustainability and it is designed to promote Raanana’s activity as a sustainable city, and is in keeping with the municipal philosophy that is based on environmental, economic and social principles of development, planning and implementation of projects.

The International Network of Healthy Cities works according to the objectives of the World Health Organization, in order to promote “Health for Everyone”, while identifying the gaps in the health and environmental situation between groups and sectors of the city and it works to close these gaps.

This year’s “International Health Day”, to be held on April 27th, will be dedicated to “Urbanization and Health” and a special activity will be held in the Knesset, which will include representatives of the Healthy Cities, including Raanana.

For years, the Raanana Municipality has been active in promoting the health and safety of its residents.  As the first city in Israel and in the Middle East to receive the title of “Safe Community” in 2005, Raanana runs a variety of programs designed to reduce the rate of injury among residents, to promote safety at its educational institutions, to prevent injury among its senior population and to promote safety and hygiene at places of employment.

In addition to these efforts, the Municipality organizes additional activities to promote good health including the “Health College”, which offers training and courses for the public at large, extracurricular sport activities for preschoolers, sports departments at middle and high schools, informative community activities, summer camps and programs for walking to school on foot.  In addition, it offers activities for the special needs population including a cycling center – “Everyone Cycles”.