Tag: Urbanisation
Water insecurity is a significant, heavily gendered, and growing driver of poverty, vulnerability and risk. This paper explores the linkages between the social protection, water and gender sectors. It examines the ways in which water insecurity restricts female participation in social protection (and related education and employment opportunities) and undermines social protection efforts to promote… Read more
Dr Helen Elsey is from the Nuffield Centre for International Health and Development, University of Leeds. In this HEART Talks she talks through the urban health HEART reading packs that she has put together with Dr Siddharth Agarwal from the Urban Health Resource Centre in India. The three reading packs are: A) Data and evidence,… Read more
Introduction to the topic This is the third in the series of urban health reading packs. It builds on the urban heath reading pack A on the data and evidence available on urban health, and on the experiences and challenges of inter-sectoral responses outlined in reading pack B. This pack focuses on service provision within… Read more
Introduction to the topic The multi-dimensional nature of the factors affecting urban health is highlighted in the reading pack on data and evidence. Urban infrastructure such as housing, water and sanitation, green space, crime and security, transport and traffic planning, social welfare schemes, and health and education services have direct and indirect impacts on health…. Read more
Introduction to the topic The year 2007 marked a key event in urbanisation with more than half of the world’s population living in urban areas for the first time. This proportion continues to grow, and by 2050, 66 per cent of the world’s population are expected to be urbanites. This means an extra 2.5 billion… Read more
Improving maternal and newborn health in low-income settings requires both health service and community action. Previous community initiatives have been predominantly rural, but India is urbanising. While working to improve health service quality, we tested an intervention in which urban slum-dweller women’s groups worked to improve local perinatal health. Facilitating urban community groups was feasible, and… Read more
In Bangladesh, the health risks of unplanned urbanisation are disproportionately shouldered by the urban poor. Key findings of the paper include: unlike rural areas, organised systems of primary care provision are lacking in urban Bangladesh, and apart from limited services through non-government organisation, is altogether absent in urban slums; informal private-for-profit providers have strategically filled… Read more
The health and rights of populations living in informal or slum settlements are key development issues of the 21st century. As of 2007, the majority of the world’s population lives in urban areas. More than one billion of these people, or one in three city-dwellers, live in inadequate housing with no or a few basic resources…. Read more
This report addresses three major threats to the safety and security of cities: crime and violence; insecurity of tenure and forced evictions; and natural and human-made disasters. It analyses worldwide trends with respect to each of these threats, paying particular attention to their underlying causes and impacts, as well as to the good policies and best… Read more
The humanitarian landscape is changing. The world is urbanising rapidly and natural disasters and displacement crises will increasingly occur in urban settings. The size and complexity of towns and cities requires different approaches to delivering assistance, compared to approaches deployed in remote, rural areas or in refugee camps. Humanitarian organisations must adapt to this new… Read more
Exposure of non-smokers and smokers to second-hand tobacco smoke causes cancer, heart disease, lung disease, and childhood illness including cot death and asthma. Worldwide, 600 000 people are estimated to die annually as a result of exposure to second-hand smoke (SHS). Despite international commitments to eliminate exposure to tobacco smoke, only 11 per cent of the world’s population… Read more