Urban Health In The Third World

The impact of urbanization on the health of citizens in developing countries has received increasing attention recently. This book addresses the problems in an integrated way, looking in detail at both the problems themselves and the action and research necessary to alleviate them. It includes contributions from leading practitioners and advisors to many of the main international agencies and presents the latest thinking of those institutions. It also presents recent information on research findings, the management and financing of urban health services and trends in urban health policy. Case studies examine major initiatives in cities as diverse as Santiago, Dar es Salaam, Dhaka, Kampala and Bombay.

In the twentieth century, the urban settings of the wealthy nations were largely associated with opportunity, accumulation of wealth, and better health than their rural counterparts. In the twenty-first century, demographic changes, globalization, and climate change are having important health consequences on wealthy nations and especially on low- and middle-income countries. The increasing concentration of poverty and significant inequalities between urban neighborhoods and the physical and social environments in cities are important determinants of population health. In this important new book, experts identify the priority problems and outline solutions that can generate and sustain healthy urban environments. Foreword by Michael H. Bloomberg Contributors include: Sue Atkinson, John G. Bartlett, Angela Beaton, Karl Brown, Pamela Ligouri Bunker, Robert J. Bunker, Scott Burris, Waleska Teixeira Caiffa, Roel A. Coutinho, Manuel Carballo, Ruth Colagiuri, Beatriz de Faria Leao, Amélia Augusta de Lima Friche, Alex Ezeh, Geoff Green, Claudio Giulliano da Costa Octavio Gómez-Dantés, Ruth Finkelstein, Julio Frenk, Nicholas Freudenberg, Fu Hua, Sandro Galea, Ticia Gerber, Carola Hein, Catherine Hull, Tord Kjellstrom, Jacob Kumaresan, Catherine Ronald Labonté, Stephen Leeder, Godfrey Mbarauku, Gordon McGranahan, Patricia Monge, Mark R. Montgomery, Martin Mulenga, Ana Luiza Nabuco, Julie Netherland, Ndioro Ndiaye, Rougui Ndiaye-Coïc, Kalala Ngalamulume, Danielle Ompad, Stipe Oreskovic, Ariel Pablos-Méndez, Jonathan Parkinson, Fernando Augusto Proietti, Thomas C. Quinn, Carlos E. Restrepo, Kevin J. Robinson, Jonathan M. Samet, David Satterthwaite, Richard H. Schneider, Ted Schrecker, Elliott Sclar, Maria Steenland, Agis Tsouros, Arnoud P. Verhoeff, Nicole Volavka-Close, Michael Ward, Vanessa Watson, Rae Zimmerman.

With the growth of cities and towns throughout the developing world have come significant health problems. The urban poor are particularly affected, faced with the worst of both worlds: urban problems such as pollution and stress, combined with infectious diseases common in both rural and urban areas. The Healthy City Project shows how to put health high on the agenda of urban officials, integrating it into all other planning and development decisions. Healthy City Projects in Developing Countries presents a comprehensive account of this very important and increasingly influential initiative. Drawing on experience in a range of cities it shows how to design, implement and evaluate the integration of public health into urban management. The results will be very significant to all those making and implementing urban policies, as well as those working in and on public health, urban development and environmental issues.

The editors are two of the most prominent researchers in this area. Both are at the Center for Urban Epidemiologic Studies. David Vlahov is particularly visible and known as the editor of the Journal of Urban Health. Sandro Galea is very prominent for his research on urban health; in particularly, research done on PTSD and children post-9/11. Thorough analysis of different populations in urban settings and specific health considerations Useful section on methods for the research audience. Applied in nature with section on prevention and interventions There are over 100 urban health centers in North America and there are no thorough, up-to-date ressources.

Diverse driving forces, processes and actors are responsible for different trends in the development of megacities and large urban areas. Under the dynamics of global change, megacities are themselves changing: On the one hand they are prone to increasing socio-economic vulnerability due to pronounced poverty, socio-spatial and political fragmentation, sometimes with extreme forms of segregation, disparities and conflicts. On the other hand megacities offer positive potential for global transformation, e.g. minimisation of space consumption, highly effective use of resources, efficient disaster prevention and health care options – if good strategies were developed. At present in many megacities and urban areas of the developing world and the emerging economies the quality of life is eroding. Most of the megacities have grown to unprecedented size, and the pace of urbanisation has far exceeded the growth of the necessary infrastructure and services. As a result, an increasing number of urban dwellers are left without access to basic amenities like clean drinking water, fresh air and safe food. Additionally, social inequalities lead to subsequent and significant intra-urban health inequalities and unbalanced disease burdens that can trigger conflict and violence between subpopulations. The guiding idea of our book lies in a multi- and interdisciplinary approach to the complex topic of megacities and urban health that can only be adequately understood when different disciplines share their knowledge and methodological tools to work together. We hope that the book will allow readers to deepen their understanding of the complex dynamics of urban and megacity populations through the lens of public health, geographical and other research perspectives.

"The joint WHO and UN-HABITAT report, Hidden cities: unmasking and overcoming health inequities in urban settings, is being released at a turning point in human history. For the first time ever, the majority of the world's population is living in cities, and this proportion continues to grow. Putting this into numbers, in 1990 fewer than 4 in 10 people lived in urban areas. In 2010, more than half live in cities, and by 2050 this proportion will grow to 7 out of every 10 people. The number of urban residents is growing by nearly 60 million every year. This demographic transition from rural to urban, or urbanization, has far-reaching consequences. Urbanization has been associated with overall shifts in the economy, away from agriculture-based activities and towards mass industry, technology and service. High urban densities have reduced transaction costs, made public spending on infrastructure and services more economically viable, and facilitated generation and diffusion of knowledge, all of which have fuelled economic growth"--Page ix.