• WHO recently declared Dhulikhel municipality, a tourist town in the Kavrepalanchok district of Nepal, a ‘healthy city.’ 

• It became Nepal's first healthy city and Asia's second after Banda city in Pune, India.

• WHO started the Healthy Cities Network in Europe and expanded it beyond to inculcate cities that focused on health as a primary objective and enshrined community participation in decisions regarding healthcare.

• Dhulikhel scored 65.48 across various indicators such as citizens’ access to health, participation in health policy-making, political commitment to health, nutrition, child health, and innovative health initiatives such as tuberculosis-free and nutrition-friendly programs, etc., allowing it to join the network.

• The city also received a cash prize of USD 5000 for this achievement. 

• This achievement is in stark contrast to the rest of the country, which, based on PM 2.5 levels, has been named the third most polluted country in the world.

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