The Santa Clara County Public Health Department has recognized Campbell Mayor Jason Baker for his help in bettering the county’s health.

On Nov. 18 the department held a conference to recognize cities and city leaders working to promote and protect the health of residents through the Healthy Cities Campaign. The campaign was recently launched to track the progress of policies and strategies adopted by county municipalities that can improve residents’ health by preventing chronic disease and injuries.

Baker helped develop the campaign and was also able to get the Cities Association to endorse it and encourage cities to participate in it.

“I’m proud to have worked with the county on the Healthy Cities Campaign,” Baker said in an email to this newspaper. “It’s important to share best practices and shine a light on healthy city success stories–like bike valet at our farmers’ market–so we can spur progress toward improved health for everyone in the county.”

The program lets cities compare themselves to one another on a checklist of strategies and health-related policies. The checklist categories are active and safe communities, healthy food and beverage environments, tobacco-free communities and cross-cutting strategies.

While Campbell didn’t make the county department’s list of “recognized cities,” it was acknowledged for its efforts to reduce secondhand smoke by restricting where people can smoke tobacco products.

San Jose received the top overall award among the other 14 cities. Saratoga was recognized as the best tobacco-free community. Saratoga adopted a policy requiring outdoor and indoor common areas of new rental developments to be smoke free.

Morgan Hill was recognized as being “the best healthy food and beverage environment.” The city set food standards for events, vending machines, food programs and city-run cafes or food kiosks.

Palo Alto was recognized for its work to identify safe routes to schools, its many trails and incentives given for biking or walking to work.

Results for each city are online at bit.ly/SCCHealthyCities.