The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the vulnerabilities of cities and urban settings to outbreaks and other health emergencies. These areas have unique dynamics that affect preparedness – they serve as travel hubs, have high population densities, hold diverse subpopulations with different sociocultural needs, as well as vulnerable groups including informal settlements. Many city authorities have governance and policy-making responsibilities and thus play an important role in national preparedness and response to COVID-19.

The Health Security Preparedness and Health Promotion departments of WHO have worked with Member States, local authorities of cities and UN-Habitat to develop a checklist tool titled “Practical actions in cities to strengthen preparedness for the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond”. The checklist accompanies the interim guidance on “Strengthening Preparedness for COVID-19 in cities and urban settings” and helps local authorities, leaders and policy-makers in cities ensure that key areas have been covered. An excel version that local authorities may wish to adapt to meet their needs is also available.

The PDF and excel files can be found at: Practical actions in cities to strengthen preparedness for the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond