What Is the Secret Behind Gangdong-gu Becoming a Leading Healthy City?

Lee Su-hee, Mayor of Gangdong District

Gangdong-gu ▲ Selected as a Meritorious Institution in Commemoration of Obesity Prevention Day, awarded the Minister of Health and Welfare Commendation ▲ Awarded the Minister of Health and Welfare Commendation for Excellence in Health Promotion Projects ▲ Received the Commissioner of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety Commendation in the Food Poisoning Prevention Excellence Evaluation ▲ Awarded the Minister of Health and Welfare Commendation for Excellence in Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease Prevention and Management Projects ▲ Awarded the Minister of Health and Welfare Commendation for Disability Health Management Projects ▲ Awarded the Minister of Health and Welfare Commendation at the Dementia Management Best Practice Competition, receiving high recognition from external organizations in each field, and ▲ Won the Encouragement Award in the Smoking Cessation City Seoul Project category ▲ Won the Excellence Award in Food Safety Management, showing outstanding achievements in a total of nine fields, drawing attention.

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its fourth year, people's interest in health is increasing even more. Along with this, interest in management and prevention methods that encompass both physical and mental health is also rising, bringing 'wellness' back into the spotlight.

‘Wellness,’ a compound word of well-being, happiness, and health, refers to a state of health not only physically and mentally but also socially. As social interest and atmosphere regarding healthy living and healthy cities have formed, Gangdong-gu has early on implemented distinctive wellness projects, solidifying its position as a representative healthy city.

Furthermore, it has provided great comfort to residents who have been mentally and physically exhausted for a long time.

Gangdong-gu Shows Outstanding Achievements in the Health Sector

Gangdong-gu (Mayor Lee Soo-hee) demonstrated excellent performance last year by receiving six ministerial commendations. ▲ Selected as a meritorious institution commemorating Obesity Prevention Day and awarded the Minister of Health and Welfare Commendation ▲ Awarded the Minister of Health and Welfare Commendation for Excellence in Health Promotion Projects ▲ Received the Commissioner of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety Commendation in the Food Poisoning Prevention Excellence Evaluation ▲ Awarded the Minister of Health and Welfare Commendation for Excellence in Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease Prevention and Management Projects ▲ Awarded the Minister of Health and Welfare Commendation for Disability Health Management Projects ▲ Awarded the Minister of Health and Welfare Commendation at the Dementia Management Best Practice Competition, receiving high recognition from external organizations in each field, and ▲ Won the Encouragement Award in the Smoking Cessation City Seoul Project category ▲ Won the Excellence Award in Food Safety Management, showing outstanding achievements in a total of nine fields.

Throughout this time, Gangdong-gu Public Health Center has operated its unique project, the 'Health 100-Year Counseling Center,' allowing residents to visit nearby community centers anytime to receive health consultations from professional nurses, even amid the prolonged COVID-19 situation. It has also run programs accessible remotely, providing uninterrupted health management services to residents. Additionally, it has operated various high-quality programs such as chronic disease management, disability health management, and mental health promotion services, receiving great praise from residents.

In particular, the Gangdong-type child obesity prevention project, 'Moving Classroom, Healthy School,' which has been promoted for six years, operates targeting elementary schools in the area, focusing on supporting child obesity prevention and management. Childhood obesity has a very high probability of continuing into adulthood and poses greater risks by causing diseases such as precocious puberty and metabolic syndrome, as well as mental and social problems like inferiority complex, depression, and decreased academic performance.

Accordingly, the district has specially created environments within schools where children spend most of their time to naturally induce physical activity, showing excellent effects in obesity prevention and demonstrating results.

Health Club Walking Activity

Also, to address the rapidly increasing dementia issue in an aging society, a dementia family support center was established in February this year to fully support dementia patients and their families. The local government has directly taken action to reduce the caregiving burden on families and improve family functions by signing an agreement with Seongshim Medical Foundation Gangdong Seongshim Hospital to provide customized support such as healing programs, healing cafes, and home care services, enabling dementia patients and their families to coexist within the community.

What is the Secret Behind Gangdong-gu Becoming a Leading Healthy City in Korea?

Last September, Gangdong-gu was honored with the Grand Prize at the 7th Korea Healthy City Awards hosted by the Korea Healthy City Partnership (KHCP).

The Korea Healthy City Awards is the only domestic healthy city contest that annually discovers and awards excellent healthy city cases by category among 101 metropolitan and local government member cities nationwide.

The winning project, ‘Kkum Miso’ (Dream Smile), which serves as a senior center by day and a children's community room by night, supports healthy growth of children and resolves care blind spots by remodeling local senior centers into shared spaces for the 1st and 3rd generations where children can stay in the evening, implementing a child-friendly healthy city through private resource linkage, and is recognized as an excellent case.

Moreover, Gangdong-gu is leading policies and projects to solidify its position as a healthy city by implementing various types of health management projects.

The ‘Nutrition Plus Project,’ which helps solve problems such as anemia and nutritional imbalance that vulnerable pregnant women and infants may face and improves dietary habits, was evaluated as an excellent case by continuing nutrition management for vulnerable groups without interruption by switching to non-face-to-face methods despite the pandemic situation.

The smoking cessation city project has also been successfully promoted. Through various methods such as non-face-to-face smoking cessation clinic registration services via Kakao Channel, one-on-one customized chat smoking cessation counseling, smoking cessation campaigns, and newsletter publication, the district is leading efforts to increase smoking cessation attempts and reduce smoking rates.

In addition, continuous inspections of food hygiene establishments have been conducted to protect residents' health through systematic food safety management, and focused guidance, inspections, and customized education for group catering facilities have greatly contributed to reducing food poisoning in the district.

Health 100-Year Consultation Center

Lee Soo-hee, Mayor of Gangdong-gu, stated, “The achievements in the health sector were possible because we responded to the increased interest of residents and all of us worked tirelessly to achieve these results,” adding, “Having realized the importance of health more than ever due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, we will make every effort in 2023 to create a healthy city Gangdong where all residents can lead healthy lives.”