Initial situation

All population groups in the City of Zurich have access to medical care. In addition, Zurich's wide range of recreation and sport facilities offers an excellent environment for individual health care. Because of the great economic importance of health, the City is also directly involved in promoting health in schools and among its employees.
Integrated health care is faced with great challenges: firstly due to ongoing demographic changes and the increase in social and environmental diseases and secondly due to increasingly scarce personnel resources and uncertain funding (see Action Area 04).

Strategies

• The City guarantees access to medical care to all population groups and aims at
  intensive cooperation among all the providers of health care services.
• The City is established as a centre of expertise for the elderly and promotes independence and well-being for the elderly through suitable services.
• The City encourages awareness of adequate exercise, healthy diet and sport in the elementary schools.
• The City supports mass sport and a variety of sporting clubs; special attention is
  thereby paid to gender issues.
• The City promotes daily exercise and relaxation with its numerous green and open spaces and its attractive pedestrian and bicycle areas.
• The City makes its employees aware of the importance of healthy living and working.
• The City, with partner organisations, develops strategies for the training and maintenance of personnel in the health care and nursing sectors.

Leading projects and initiatives

• Promotion of medical services for the family and the elderly as an important pillar of integrated health care
• Development of a periodic health report
• Further establishment of the Health Network Association 2025 initiated by the City of Zurich as a platform for cooperation among health care providers
• Developing an umbrella strategy for health and prevention at school
• Expansion of the wide range of sporting and exercise facilities available under attractive conditions
• Implementation of the Promotion of Health at Work Project