WHO marks World Cities Day with a call for safe, healthy housing for all

31 October 2026

The World Health Organization marked World Cities Day by putting housing forward as a health matter. Drawing on UN-Habitat's World Cities Report 2026, it says as many as 3.4 billion people go without secure, safe and adequate housing, and that over a billion live in informal settlements and slums. The WHO points readers to its own Housing and health guidelines, which set out evidence-based advice on crowded homes, indoor heat and cold, injury risks and homes a disabled person cannot use. Each of those, it says, adds to illness and injury. Two other instruments are named: the Global guide for strategic action on urban health, and the Initiative on Urban Governance for Health and Well-being. The statement also recalls the WHO Healthy Cities Recognition Awards in the Western Pacific, given for work on housing conditions, urban flooding and greenhouse gas emissions. World Cities Day falls on 31 October, set by a resolution of the UN General Assembly.