The history, geography, and sociology of slums and the health problems of people who live in slums

Abstract

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.

Impact of improved cookstoves on women’s and child health in low and middle income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…It should furthermore be noted that no studies in urban areas were identified by our search. By 2030, an estimated five billion people will live in urban areas, of which two billion will live in slums in LMICs, mainly in Africa and Asia 78. Many differences exist between rural and urban settings, for example, regarding cooking location (eg, in the possibilities to cook outside) and background environmental air pollution.…”

Determining Factors for Slum Growth with Predictive Data Mining Methods

“…According to Roy et al [18] and Ezeh et al [8], informal economy is also a factor leading to slum growth. Information on this is included in the data set as the attribute "Informal Employment", but does not appear in the models and is poorly evaluated by all three evaluation algorithms.…”

A spectrum of methods for a spectrum of risk: Generating evidence to understand and reduce urban risk in sub‐Saharan Africa

“…Most informal settlements are particularly unhealthy places with especially high risks of infection and injury, particularly for children, with diseases such as typhoid, hookworm and cholera being particularly prevalent (Ezeh et al, 2017). Most informal settlements are particularly unhealthy places with especially high risks of infection and injury, particularly for children, with diseases such as typhoid, hookworm and cholera being particularly prevalent (Ezeh et al, 2017).…”