The Prime Minister this Monday praised the example of social mobilization of the Bairros Saudáveis program, coordinated at the national level by the architect Helena Roseta, announcing that it will become permanent, with editions every three years.
This announcement was made by António Costa at Teatro Aberto, in Lisbon, at the end of the session “Healthy neighborhoods are responsible”, in which the Minister of Health, Manuel Pizarro, had previously spoken, and also attended by the Minister of Cohesion, Anna Abrunhosa.
“My first words are congratulations for the extraordinary mobilization and social energy devoted to this program. This program was born at a very critical moment in July 2020, when vaccines against covid-19 were still not available,” said the leader of the Executive, in a speech recalling the difficulty of fighting the transmission of the virus, especially in the most populous and poorest areas of the metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto.
Specifically with regard to the Bairros Saudáveis program, which involves seven different ministries, António Costa said there was “a very important lesson that was learned and that scaled”.
“The fundamental lesson is obvious: what goes well does not change, so it goes on. The Minister of Health has already announced a new edition of the Healthy Neighborhoods programme, but I’m going to go a step further. Every three years, we have to start a new edition of the Bairros Saudáveis program,” he said, with prolonged applause.
The Prime Minister later explained that Healthy Neighborhoods should become a permanent programme.
“One of the great ambitions we have is to increasingly shift our focus from treating diseases to focusing on disease prevention and health promotion. Today everyone knows that the most serious diseases are acquired through habits we have throughout life. This is not a moralistic speech, it is as it is,” he stressed.
In a more informal note to his speech, António Costa revealed an episode that took place during one of the long meetings of the Council of Ministers during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Finally [os ministros] conquered for the idea of the Healthy Neighborhoods project, there was a problem: who could implement it?” said the executive leader, citing a question from one of his ministers.
António Costa revealed that he himself has indicated the solution to this problem.
“There is only one person I know. It will give you a lot of headaches, but it also gives you a guarantee: it is that the project will reach the end. Afterwards you can say that it is done. That person is Helena Roseta”, he stated, to much applause from the audience.
According to data provided by Helena Roseta, the Bairros Saudáveis program has made it possible to carry out 240 projects in the last three years and support 145 thousand people from the north to the south of the country with a budget of 10 million euros.
Of the 240 projects implemented, 70 were in the north, 34 in the centre, 93 in Lisbon and the Tagus Valley, 27 in the Alentejo and 16 in the Algarve, with an implementation rate of 98%.
1,515 entities participated in these projects, of which 655 non-profit organizations and private entities in the solidarity sector, 371 municipalities, 108 National Health System (SNS) entities, 136 other public entities and 245 voluntary informal entities.
After the implementation of these projects, 56 associations, eight cooperatives and 27 companies emerged, strengthened
The Healthy Neighborhoods program enabled 16,344 health promotion actions to be carried out in the most diverse areas, namely diabetes and nutrition and mental health.
It also made it possible to carry out 682 interventions to improve public spaces and promote the environment (cleaning, removal of toxic products, equipment and vegetable gardens) and 2,089 environmental education actions.
In terms of housing, the program made it possible to carry out minor interventions in 677 homes, improving the living conditions of 2,470 people.
In addition, accessibility for 164 people with reduced mobility was improved, as was access to water, sanitation or energy networks in 121 homes.
In addition, during the implementation of the projects, the full or partial payment of 407 jobs has been financed, of which 284 remain.
Helena Roseta also reported that 145,000 people benefited, including 28,913 children up to the age of 17, 26,699 young people between the ages of 18 and 24, 69,941 adults aged 25 to 64, and 20,341 the elderly aged 65 and over.
Among these recipients were 20,024 migrants and 1,133 people with disabilities, he added.
Source: DN
