Bupa's Healthy Cities initiative was chosen as the Community involvement programme of the year, Global as judges highlighted the programme's focus on living a "long and healthy life".

According to the international healthcare company, Bupa, the Healthy Cities initiative is aimed at making cities healthier through interventions such as greening projects and encouraging people to embrace a healthier more active lifestyle. Launched nine years ago in Spain and now in its second year of being a global initiative, it aims to support one million people improve their health by 2025 through restoring and regenerating nature. The Healthy Cities initiative is a key part of

Bupa's work around driving action on both people's health and the health of the environments in which they live. It also contributes to Bupa's focus on sustainability which is embedded in the company's purpose and reflected in its corporate strategy.

"Demographics – an ageing society in most developed countries with skyrocketing health care costs – is often an overlooked risk that can be mitigated by living a healthy life," said one judge. "Bupa's holistic and long-term approach was a clear winner for me. It includes physical and mental health components emphasising the importance of social interactions in healthier environments for living a healthy life."

Nigel Sullivan, chief people and sustainability officer at Bupa, said: "We are thrilled to have won the award. At Bupa we have a mission to build a healthier future for people and the planet and a key driver of this is our Healthy Cities initiative. 80,000 people took part in the programme last year and our ambition is to continue scaling it to help even more people improve their health.

"At Bupa, we strongly believe that human health and the health of the planet are interlinked. And we also know that cities are on the frontlines of climate change as people living in them are increasingly exposed to air pollution and rising temperatures. With more people living in cities than ever before, acting on urban environments presents one of the greatest opportunities for health and this is why our Healthy Cities programme is so important, helping us support a preventative health agenda."