Urban Health Reading Pack A - Data and Evidence

1. Dr Helen Elsey and Dr Siddharth Agarwal
May 2016
DfID Urban Health Reading Pack Slides

2. The world is urbanising
• Globally, more people live in urban areas than in rural areas. In 2014, 54 % of the world’s
population were living in urban areas.
• By 2050, it is expected that 66 % of the world’s population will be urbanites.This means an
extra 2.5 billion people will be added to the urban population through population growth
and migration.
• Africa andAsia are urbanising the fastest. By 2050 56% will be urban in Africa and 64 % in
Asia.
• There are currently 28 mega-cities (i.e. with a population of 10 million or more). By 2030,
the world is projected to have 41 mega-cities.
• It is not all about mega-cities, the fastest growing urban areas are medium-sized cities and
those with less than 1 million inhabitants located inAsia andAfrica.
• Almost half of the world’s urbanites live in relatively small settlements of less than
500,000, only around one in eight live in the 28 mega-cities.

4. Proportion of the Population living in Urban Areas
1990, 2014 and 2050
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
%urbanpopulation
Proportion of the Population living in Urban Areas
1990, 2014 and 2050
1990 2014 2050

5. Average annual rate of change in the
proportion of urban dwellers 2010–2015
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
%averageannualrateofchangeofurbangrowth
UN 2014 for DfID PriorityCountries

6. Not all benefit from the ‘Urban Advantage’
• UNHabitat estimates the number of people living in slum conditions is now 863
million; growing from 760 million in 2000 and 650 million in 1990.
• The operational definition of a slum (as agreed by UN Expert Group Meeting,
Nairobi October 2002) as an area that combines, to various extents, the following
characteristics:
• inadequate access to safe water;
• inadequate access to sanitation and other infrastructure;
• poor structural quality of housing;
• overcrowding;
• insecure residential status.
• ‘peripherization’ which is characterized by huge urban areas with illegal
arrangements of land use

7. Cities are at the forefront of ‘disease transition’ with
malnutrition and obesity occurring simultaneously.
This data is drawn from WHO/UNHABITATGlobal Urban Health Report 2016. A note of caution: country data is based on survey data from
different years (2005 to 2011), so estimates for some countries are likely to be out of date and should not be directly compared.They are
shown here to provide an overview of rural/urban poor differences. Source: http://www.who.int/gho/urban_health/en/

8. Water and Sanitation provision is grossly
inadequate in urban slums

9. Tobacco consumption is a major concern
among urban poor men, and increasingly
women. A risk factor for both NCDs andTB.

10. Urban poor women more likely to work outside the home than
other women in urban or rural settings. Greater inter-sectoral
support is needed for women to take advantage of these
opportunities and reduce the possible risks:
Opportunities
Risks
• income self
and children
• role in household
decision-making
• self-esteem
• personal
development
• changing gender
roles equity
• Lack of child-care
lack of supervision
injuries/ poor
nutrition/child
development
• violence/tension due
to change in roles
• time to cook/
domestic tasks
poor nutrition/
hygiene
• Exploitation in the
work place
• Exposure to violence
outside the home