Institute 360

Our Belief, Mission & Focus:

While several countries are working towards achieving the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) associated with maternal, newborn, and child mortality, women in many corners of the world still face life-threatening challenges simply because they are pregnant. WHO. In 2023 alone, over 700 women and girls died from complications of pregnancy, with those from the low and middle-income countries disproportionately high (WHO).

The challenges that women and girls face during pregnancy and childbirth are disheartening. Leading medical complications include hemorrhage, hypertensive disorders, infections, and obstructed labour, most of which are preventable. Additionally, social determinants of health highlight health inequalities such as, poor access to quality health services, low supply of commodities and health workforce and inadequate knowledge on reproductive health, are a huge contributing factor to poor maternal health outcomes. Most of them are embedded in the 3-DELAY model of adverse maternal outcomes, as this model outlines the time it takes for a pregnant woman to

• decide to seek care
• reach the healthcare facility, and
• receive care at a health facility.

(Mgawadere, F., Unkels, R., Kazembe, A. et al.)

Because every mother deserves a pleasant pregnancy experience and a chance to live a healthy life, it is important to address issues that contribute to poor maternal outcomes through

• quality health services,
• community engagement and
• awareness, especially in poor urban communities.

Tackling health inequalities should be prioritised through intersectoral policies that promote human rights, foster social determinants of health, and ensure universal access to health, highlighting the marginalised populations. Women are key players in economic growth within communities and serve as a pillar to achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). At Urban Health 360, we believe no woman should have to risk her life to give life. We are committed to bridging the gaps that continue to fuel adverse maternal outcomes and to building a future where every mother, everywhere, has the chance to thrive.

Our Mission and Belief:

To advance climate justice by strengthening the resilience, health, and livelihoods of vulnerable urban communities most impacted by climate change. Real resilience is built on equity. We envision cities where street vendors, informal workers, women, and families are not just surviving climate change, they are shaping the solutions.

Our Focus:

• Climate impacts on informal economies and public health
• Urban resilience strategies for low-income and marginalised populations
• Gendered vulnerabilities in climate change adaptation
• Equitable, inclusive policy development for healthier cities

Climate change is not a distant threat, it is a daily reality for millions living in vulnerable urban environments. Our Climate Equity and Resilient Communities program addresses how climate change deepens inequality for informal workers, street vendors, low-income families, and women across urban spaces.

Our program centers on the lived experiences of those most affected, connecting environmental justice with public health, livelihoods, and dignity. We work to ensure that resilience efforts don’t just protect infrastructure, they protect people through:

• Research: Produce evidence on how climate change, pollution, and extreme weather impact vulnerable groups, particularly informal workers and low-income communities.
• Advocacy: Elevate community voices to influence climate, health, and urban development policies.
• Community Action: Co-design local resilience initiatives with communities, ensuring solutions are grounded in real-world needs.
• Policy Innovation: Develop integrated frameworks that link health, climate adaptation, and economic empowerment.
• Leverage Technology for Equity: We are exploring how Internet of Things (IoT) devices and Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can strengthen climate resilience in vulnerable communities from real-time air quality monitoring to early warning systems. Technology must serve people first, and we aim to develop low-cost, community-driven solutions that make urban spaces healthier and safer.

Our Mission and Belief:

We are in the decade of achieving the Sustainable Development Agenda, which comprises 17 sustainable devolvement goals (SDGs) and 169 targets. At least 48 targets of the total targets are relevant to urban health, signifying urban health’s importance in achieving the SDG agenda by 2030. While policy coherence and equitable policies are a way forward for better urban health outcomes, it is essential to identify the “hot spots” of urbanisation for targeted interventions for healthcare access, housing, and other amenities.

The United Nations projections suggest, by 2030, the fastest-growing urban agglomerations are cities with fewer than 1 million inhabitants, many of them located in Asia and Africa. The cities with fewer than 1 million inhabitants also referred to as secondary cities. According to World Bank, a secondary city is largely determined by population, size, function, and economic status. Commonly, secondary cities are geographically defined urban jurisdictions. In some cases, their role and functions may expand to a geographic region or the global realm. The population of secondary cities range between 10-50 % of a country’s largest city, although some can be smaller than this. More than 2,400 cities with populations of between 150,000 and 5 million described as secondary cities. These secondary cities possibly interpreted as “hot spots” of urbanisation for targeted interventions for better health outcomes contributing to the SDG agenda.