This paper examines maternal and child health in the Nairobi slums using information on 1219 births which occurred in the past three years before the Nairobi Cross-sectional Slum Survey (NCSS) of 2000. The specific objectives are to compare maternal and child health indicators in the Nairobi slums with the rest of the Kenyan population, and to identify socio-economic and demographic factors ass...

Many communities in Mozambique fi nd themselves in the rural-urban interface, either Many communities in Mozambique fi nd themselves in the rural-urban interface, either by being small towns or rural areas in the vicinity of cities. There is growing evidence by being small towns or rural areas in the vicinity of cities. There is growing evidence that the households and individuals who manage to...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Domestic violence is identified as a public heath problem. It is associated with adverse maternal health. This study examined the prevalence and determinants of domestic violence among women in urban slums of Mumbai, India. METHODS A community based cross-sectional household survey was carried out among eligible women for the study during September 2012 to January 2013...

Urban greenery provides ecosystem services that play an important role in the challenging context of urban deprivation and poverty. This study assesses the social importance of vegetation through empirical assessment of 44 urban slums in the rapidly developing southern city of Bangalore, India. Vegetation played a major role in supporting nutrition by its role in food consumption, and in promot...

BACKGROUND Worldwide urbanization has become a crucial issue in recent years. Bangladesh, one of the poorest and most densely-populated countries in the world, has been facing rapid urbanization. In urban areas, maternal indicators are generally worse in the slums than in the urban non-slum areas. The Manoshi program at BRAC, a non governmental organization, works to improve maternal, newborn, ...

Slums are examples of localized communities within third world urban systems representing a range of vulnerabilities and adaptive capacities. This study examines vulnerability in relation to flooding, environmental degradation, social-status, demographics, and health in the slums of Accra, Ghana by utilizing a place-based approach informed by fieldwork, remote sensing, census data, and geograph...

The nexus of urban poverty and sustainable development is complex. The urban poor reside in often deplorable conditions, which in some instances are worse than those in the rural areas that so many of them left behind (Brockerhoff and Brennan 1997). Women’s status, youth issues, and reproductive health concerns all take on a different complexion in the context of urban slums and informal settle...

In 2008, the global urban population surpassed the rural population and by 2050 more than 6 billion will be living in urban centres. A growing body of research has reported on poor health outcomes among the urban poor but not much is known about HIV prevalence among this group. A survey of nearly 3000 men and women was conducted in two Nairobi slums in Kenya between 2006 and 2007, where respond...

AIM To determine the possibility of leptospirosis among patients from urban slums presenting with febrile illness during monsoon and post-monsoon season. METHODS Evidence of leptospirosis in 180 patients with febrile illness was determined by looking for presence of immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies by leptospiral IgM enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The test was carried out on 160 ...

A community based prospective study was conducted to find the association of maternal bio-social determinants with birth weight in urban slums. A random sample of 50 AWCs (7 AWC from each zone) catering the population of urban slums and constituting about 25% of the total was taken giving due representation to all zones. 303 expectant mothers registered with AWCs in their third trimester (>28 w...