Dhulikhel becomes Nepal’s first and second healthiest city in Asia

WHO has declared Dhulikhel Municipality of Kavrepalanchok district as Nepal’s first ‘healthy city’ and second healthiest city in Asia. Since 2014, Dhulikhel Municipality has implemented various programmes to achieve the status. Dhulikhel Municipality, which initiated a campaign to become a healthy city, has been monitored by the World Health Organisation since 2021 to achieve the feat of becoming Nepal’s healthiest city. Dhulikhel scored 65.48 points on various indicators for healthy cities, joining the WHO Healthy City Network.The evaluations were made on various indicators, including citizens’ access to health, their participation in health policy-making, political commitment to health, nutrition, child health and innovative health initiatives such as tuberculosis-free and nutrition-friendly programmes, among others. The municipality is awarded USD 5,000 for implementing various programmes under the Healthy City initiative. This news comes amidst reports of Nepal being the third most polluted country in the world, based on satellite-derived particulate matter 2.5 data.