BACKGROUND Worldwide one billion people are living in slum communities and experts projected that this number would double by 2030. Slum populations, which are increasing at an alarming rate in Bangladesh mainly due to rural-urban migration, are often neglected and characterized by poverty, poor housing, overcrowding, poor environment, and high prevalence of communicable diseases. Unfortunately...

The Saint Louis University Mental Status (SLUMS) Examination is a brief screening measure for mild neurocognitive disorder developed for use with veterans. To date, there has been a paucity of research on its psychometric properties. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the psychometric properties of the SLUMS in a referred sample to a specialty clinic. Using a sample of 148 male veterans r...

In 2010, an estimated 860 million people were living in slums worldwide, with around 60 million added to the slum population between 2000 and 2010. In 2011, 200 million people in urban Indian households were considered to live in slums. In order to address and create slum development programmes and poverty alleviation methods, it is necessary to understand the needs of these communities. Theref...

For a fast growing economy like India where most of its cities experiencing consistently increase in urban population, the future welfare of city residents is heavily relied on providing better living conditions and health prospects to the urban dwellers particularly to those who are living in miserable and unhygienic environment. The paper derived slum condition index (Slum CI) of notified and...

OBJECTIVES This research studies the role of slums in the spread and control of infectious diseases in the National Capital Territory of India, Delhi, using detailed social contact networks of its residents. METHODS We use an agent-based model to study the spread of influenza in Delhi through person-to-person contact. Two different networks are used: one in which slum and non-slum regions are...

Unreliable electricity supply is a major obstacle to economic development in countries such as India. While electricity problems in the rural areas are widely recognized, scholars have yet to analyze the situation in urban slums. Drawing on 2004-2005 survey data from the India Human Development Survey, we document the electricity situation in slums. We find that while households located in slum...

To link environmental factors with prevalence of RTI/STD symptoms among women in the urban slums of Dhaka, Bangladesh and also to investigate if there are differences in levels of RTI/STD prevalence among the slums. Fourteen slums from Dhaka city were the secondary units for this study, households were selected according to systematic sampling. One woman from each selected household was intervi...

Addressing the human right to water and sanitation in the slums of Mumbai, India requires disentangling the provision of basic services from a more complicated set of questions around land security and land ownership. Millions of slum-dwellers in Mumbai lack adequate access to safe drinking water and sanitation, which places them at risk for waterborne diseases. Many slums are located in hazard...

BACKGROUND Recent trends in global vaccination coverage have shown increases with most countries reaching 90% DTP3 coverage in 2008, although pockets of undervaccination continue to persist in parts of sub-Saharan Africa particularly in the urban slums. The objectives of this study were to determine the vaccination status of children aged between 12-23 months living in two slums of Nairobi and ...