[Community health building: the safe community promotion experience]

Safety and health promotion at the community level involves special concerns and approaches. A community may develop into a safe community or healthy city depending on the focus of relevant promotion efforts. Neither area nor population size should be factors affecting an initial decision to start safe community or healthy city programs. However, one should consider the diversity of issues that may have the potential impact on people with different gender and age or on different environments and situations, and whether a planned program is sustainable. While safe communities and healthy cities may be linked to international networks, the qualifications for joining such networks differ. The Healthy City Alliance emphasizes outcome measures and the International Safe Community Network emphasizes the appropriateness of sustainability mechanisms. While Taiwan communities are eligible for designation as international safe communities, they may are eligible for associate membership only in the Healthy City Alliance. The author has the following recommendations with regard to sustainability in community health building in Taiwan: 1) The relevant infrastructure must involve both public and private sectors; 2) The community should try to receive financial support from diverse sources; 3) involve significant numbers of active volunteers; and 4) charge local health centers with data collection and analysis responsibilities.