The Cabildo of Lanzarote and its seven municipalities have concluded this Wednesday the adhesion to the National Health Promotion and Prevention Strategy (EPSP) and the Canary Islands Strategy of Cities, Municipalities and Islands Promoting Health with the incorporation of Yaiza's commitment to develop policies that are in line with prevention and the promotion of health in a comprehensive manner.
Following the adhesion of the southern municipality, the conference Lanzarote and La Graciosa, challenges and opportunities in Health Promotion was held on Wednesday morning, organized by the Area of Social Welfare and Inclusion of the Cabildo in the Casa de la Cultura Benito Pérez Armas of Yaiza. The conference included a talk by Jara Cubillo, a medical specialist in Family and Community Medicine and technician of the Health Promotion and Equity area of the General Directorate of Public Health and Equity in Health of the Ministry of Health, on community health and public policies.
During the event, the Councilor for Social Welfare and Inclusion, Marci Acuña, highlighted the importance of this adhesion, "which endorses the unity of Lanzarote in this strategy linked to the promotion of health and well-being and that will allow establishing joint actions." Acuña also recalled that "at the beginning of the legislature there were only three municipalities integrated in this strategy and, after Lanzarote joined as a Health Promoting Island, the incorporation of the rest of the municipalities was promoted."
For his part, the General Director of Public Health of the Canary Islands Health Service, José Díaz Flores, valued the union of Lanzarote and its municipalities to this strategy, being the second in the Canary Islands to have all its administrations, adhering to the Health Promotion and Prevention Strategy of the National Health System. Díaz stressed that this strategy "aims to bring health and sanitation, not only from the sanitary point of view of the institutions, but also that citizens, administrations and professional workers can intervene."
He pointed out that Lanzarote "is a very active municipality, with more than 110 resources mapped in health and added that the goal is to finish the legislature with the registration of all the Islands and all the municipalities to the strategy." In this sense, he stressed that "Canary Islands is the community with the most municipalities adhering to the strategy, accounting for 80% of the total."
For the mayor of Yaiza, Oscar Noda, this strategy "will allow to trace those transversal collaborations between administrations and go hand in hand to achieve a social welfare and a prevention in health that avoids greater evils in the future in our citizenship." In this sense, Noda concluded that "in matters such as health, education and culture we have to go hand in hand, putting all possible efforts and resources."
