A municipal council for “a transversal approach to health”
“No other city in France has done it”, welcomed Benoît Payan, the mayor of Marseille during the presentation, this Friday, of the municipal health council. At the initiative of this new body, which aims to “guarantee the good health of Marseillais”, by a “global, transversal and systemic approach”, is logically Michèle Rubirola, current first deputy and ephemeral mayor of the city, number of the last municipal election.
Thirty-nine members, four colleges
It is also the latter, a doctor by training and in charge of health issues at the city of Marseille, who will chair and pilot this municipal health council. It is made up of 39 members, divided into four colleges: associative actors, researchers, health professionals and citizens. Each college meets separately before pooling their proposals four times.
The presence of institutional eminent people during this presentation, such as Isabelle Wawrzynkowski for the ARS, Professor Jean-Luc Jouve, surgeon, university professor and president of the AP-HM medical commission, or François Crémieux, the director of the AP-HM, testifies to the scope of this municipal health council, in which “the AP-HM will play its full part”, assures the latter. Association leaders were also presented: Doctor Yazid Attalah, from Sept, Faitha Ziana, a very mobilized activist in Frais-Vallon, her neighborhood, or Khadidja Sahraoui-Chapuis, director of the Networks 13 association and sociologist.
A health referent in all political sectors of the city
The ambition seems colossal. It is about working for health at all levels: “Health will be transversal and we will reflect on whether there is a health referent in all political sectors of the city of Marseille: in schools, in town planning… ”, explains Michèle Rubirola, convinced that when it comes to health, we need to think more broadly. “Global warming, policies vis-à-vis the public hospital and inequalities are also responsible and respect our health,” she says.
Enough to illustrate the point made by Benoît Payan a few minutes earlier. The inhabitants of “working-class neighborhoods live on average nine years less than others”. With this Municipal Health Council, the city is giving itself an additional tool to achieve its mantra, repeated at almost every public outing of its elected officials “to sew up the city”. “We have work to do for a few years,” concluded Michèle Rubirola.