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The informal settlements of the Global South are the least prepared for the pandemic of COVID-19 since basic needs such as water, toilets, sewers, drainage, waste collection, and secure and adequate housing are already in short supply or non-existent. Further, space constraints, violence, and overcrowding in slums make physical distancing and self-quarantine impractical, and the rapid spread of an infection highly likely. J Urban Health international aid, NGOs, and community groups to innovate beyond disaster response and move toward longterm plans.

Massive slums have become major features of cities in many low-income and middle-income countries. Here, in the first in a Series of two papers, we discuss why slums are unhealthy places with especially high risks of infection and injury. We show that children are especially vulnerable, and that the combination of malnutrition and recurrent diarrhoea leads to stunted growth and longer-term effects on cognitive development. We find that the scientific literature on slum health is underdeveloped in comparison to urban health, and poverty and health. This shortcoming is important because health is affected by factors arising from the shared physical and social environment, which have effects beyond those of poverty alone. In the second paper we will consider what can be done to improve health and make recommendations for the development of slum health as a field of study.

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OBJECTIVE To identify associations of chronic back pain with sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyles, body mass index, self-reported chronic diseases and health assessment, according to sex.METHODS We analyzed data from the 2013 National Health Survey, estimated the prevalence and their respective 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) of chronic back pain, according to selected variables and performed adjustment by age and education.RESULTS 18.5% of the Brazilian population reported chronic back pain, 15.5% (95%CI 14.7–16.4) of them being men and 21.1% (95%CI 20.2–22.0) being women. The characteristics that remained associated and statistically significant (p < 0.05) after adjustment, in men, were: age group, higher in men with 65 years or older (ORa = 6.06); low education level; living in rural area; history of smoking, high salt intake, increase in the time of heavy physical activity at work and at home; being overweight (ORa = 1.18) or obese (ORa = 1.26); diagnostic of hypertension (ORa = 1.42), high cholesterol (ORa = 1.60); and worse health assessment in comparison with very good (good [ORa = 1.48]; regular [ORa = 3.22]; poor [ORa = 5.00], very poor [ORa = 8.60]). Among women, they were: increase with age, higher among women with 55-64 years (ORa = 3.64); low education level; history of smoking, regular candy consumption, high salt intake, heavy physical activity at work and at home and increase in the time of these activities; being overweight (ORa = 1.23) or obese (ORa = 1.32); diagnosis of hypertension (ORa = 1.50), high cholesterol (ORa = 1.84); and worse health assessment than very good (good [ORa = 1.43]; regular [ORa = 3.16]; poor [ORa = 5.44], very poor [ORa = 8.19]).CONCLUSIONS Our findings point out differences by sex and contribute to the knowledge of the panorama of chronic back pain, which, besides affecting individuals, generate negative socioeconomic impacts, by causing work-related disabilities and hindering everyday activities.

A cross-sectional study compared 100 breastfeeding and 100 non-breastfeeding new mothers in order to investigate the relationship between mothers' choice of breastfeeding and support from health professionals and lay people, taking into account potentially confounding sociodemographic influences. The importance of the male partners' opinion about breastfeeding was also examined. A favorable attitude of partners towards breastfeeding was the most important factor associated with breastfeeding (odds ratio = 32.8). Prenatal class attendance and breastfeeding support from lay people increased the odds of breastfeeding 2.7 and 3.3 times, respectively. Breastfeeding orientation provided by doctors, nurses, and nutritionists was not associated with the maternal decision to breastfeed. The results point toward the need for reevaluation of prenatal care interventions, inclusion of fathers in breastfeeding educational programs, and emphasis on community-based programs.

This article describes the origins and characteristics of an interdisciplinary multinational collaboration aimed at promoting and disseminating actionable evidence on the drivers of health in cities in Latin America and the Caribbean: The Network for Urban Health in Latin America and the Caribbean and the Wellcome Trust funded SALURBAL (Salud Urbana en América Latina, or Urban Health in Latin America) Project. Both initiatives have the goals of supporting urban policies that promote health and health equity in cities of the region while at the same time generating generalizable knowledge for urban areas across the globe. The processes, challenges, as well as the lessons learned to date in launching and implementing these collaborations, are described. By leveraging the unique features of the Latin American region (one of the most urbanized areas of the world with some of the most innovative urban policies), the aim is to produce generalizable knowledge about the links between urbanization, health, and environments and to identify effective ways to organize, design, and govern cities to improve health, reduce health inequalities, and maximize environmental sustainability in cities all over the world.

Saúde urbana: "a cidade é uma estranha senhora, que hoje sorri e amanhã te devora" * Urban health: "the city is a strange lady, smiling today, devouring you tomorrow"