Henock Blaise Nguendo-Yongsi, PhD

Conversations on Urban Health - Dr Yonette Thomas

Professor Nguendo-Yongsi is the President-Elect of ISUH. Professor Nguendo-Yongsi is an Urban Health Influencer. He has been involved in the ISUH for several years and will be working with us to lead the organization into a sustainable future. He is a strong advocate for engaging African scholars in the ISUH global network of urban health thinkers and doers. His work in Africa has made strong theoretical and methodological contributions, addressing environmental hazards and deficiencies in health service provision. He sees this experience as being critical to creating opportunities for trans-disciplinary research in urban health through the ISUH network. Professor Nguendo-Yongsi believes that ISUH is well placed to influence decisions in urban health and to help improve the wellbeing of urban populations through education and research. His vision is to engage members and foster partnerships worldwide because improving urban health requires the engagement of multiple sectors. Expanding, connecting, and engaging are three key activities. He sees local engagement as being particularly important as well as the focused engagement of partners. He sees two important priorities: (1) education and (2) research. For people to be in good health they need first to be educated and without reliable research we cannot have information about how best to influence social determinants. We must encourage health governance and provide training in urban health as ways to engage many stakeholders in the organization.