Background: South Sulawesi is one of the most successful provinces in Indonesia to develop Healthy Cities. This can be characterized by awards Swasti Saba, an award given by the central government to the districts/cities that successfully held Healthy Cities.
Aims: The purpose of this paper is to understand the meaning of Healthy Cities Awards and to identify the expectations and challenges towards Healthy Cities Awards in South Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Method: This study used a qualitative approach. The research method was in-depth interviews. The informants were 22 people consisting of healthy district/city advisors including the head of the districts/cities planning agency, health office, transportation agency, food and nutrition security agency, public works office and head of the healthy citiy/district and province forum.
Results:This paper found that the award of Healthy Cites isimportant. Seven expectations and several challenges have been identified. This paper suggests that the implementation of Healthy Cities emphasizes the essence of achieving Healthy City goals.
Conclusion: Many healthy district/city managers are oriented towards the awards rather than the essence of healthy districts/cities goals.