Quite a number of the improvements occurred in the last decades in the field of health, mainly in rich countries, are due to better natural environmental conditions and to the diffusion of healthier living habits. Both aspects call for the committment of educational agencies and the choice of single citizens as well, besides specific actions by political institutions.  However, education to healthier living habits may clash with the interests of strong economic powers, such as food and tobacco industries.  It is widely proved (sometimes through legal reimbursement actions) that these economic agents spread misleading opinions, above all among vulnerable population layers, in order to promote  habits, which are profitable for the producers, but highly risky for the public health.

A healthy environment and a proper health education, aimed at fighting the obnoxious messages coming from the mass media, are a  specific responsability not only of national institutions, but also of local ones. Opinion groups and citizen associations should cooperate as well.

1. In your city do you see a proper level of attention to public health in non-sanitary areas, such as the public transportation system, schools, housings, waste treatment, parks, cycle lanes, sport facilities, etc.?
2. In your city does there exist an educational committment to a healthy life-style (nutrition, abstention from tobacco and so-called recreational drugs, abstention from an exaggerated use of alcohol, sport, free time and relax, etc.)?
3. What kind of practices are used in order to promote them? (in the families, at school, and in all other places where youth spend their time, relying on mass media and internet)?
4. In your city are there mutual help associations that work for people with unhealthy behaviours?