Monitoring of Health and Demographic Outcomes in Poor Urban Settlements: Evidence from the Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System

The Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System (NUHDSS) was set up in Korogocho and Viwandani slum settlements to provide a platform for investigating linkages between urban poverty, health, and demographic and other socioeconomic outcomes, and to facilitate the evaluation of interventions to improve the wellbeing of the urban poor. Data from the NUHDSS confirm the high level of population mobility in slum settlements, and also demonstrate that slum settlements are long-term homes for many people. Research and intervention programs should take account of the duality of slum residency. Consistent with the trends observed countrywide, the data show substantial improvements in measures of child mortality, while there has been limited decline in fertility in slum settlements. The NUHDSS experience has shown that it is feasible to set up and implement long-term health and demographic surveillance system in urban slum settlements and to generate vital data for guiding policy and actions aimed at improving the wellbeing of the urban poor.     

Reproductive and Child Health Inequities in Chandigarh Union Territory of India

Health inequity is an emerging issue all over the world. Some populations living in specific geographic areas may have less access to basic health facilities. Therefore, a sample survey of households was carried out to study access of different population groups to reproductive and child health. Cluster sampling technique was used to select 30 clusters (18 urban, 9 slum, and 3 rural) from Chandigarh Union Territory in India. From each of these clusters, 40 households were selected randomly. Data were collected using a standard questionnaire developed by UNICEF from April to June 2006 by graduate male and female field workers who were specially recruited and trained for this purpose. A total of 5383 individuals were studied in 1200 sample households with proportionate representation from urban (56%), slum (33%), and rural (11%) areas. Literacy rate was higher (94.3%) in urban than the rural (80.6%) and slum (65.3%) areas. About 68% of the deliveries were at home and not assisted by a skilled birth attendant (nurse, midwife, or doctor) in the slums, compared to 21% and 7% in rural and urban areas (p < 0.001), respectively. Fully immunized children at the age of 2 years were 30% in slums as compared to 74% and 62.5% in urban and rural areas (p < 0.001), respectively. Hib vaccination, which is to be bought at a considerable cost, was nil in slum areas compared to 79% in urban and 45% in rural area. Contraceptive prevalence was significantly more in urban (73%) and rural areas (75%) compared to the slum areas (53.4%) (p < 0.05). It was concluded that reproductive and child health service coverage has large differences in various population groups. Special interventions should be undertaken on a priority basis to bridge the gaps so as to achieve millennium development goals in all population groups.     

Tackling the Urban Health Divide Though Enabling Intersectoral Action on Malnutrition in Chile and Kenya

As momentum grows for a sustainable urbanisation goal in the post-2015 development agenda, this paper reports on an action research study that sought to tackle the urban health divide by enabling intersectoral action on social determinants at the local level. The study was located in the cities of Mombasa in Kenya and Valparaíso in Chile, and the impact of the intervention on child nutrition was evaluated using a controlled design. The findings showed that an action research process using the social educational process known as PLA could effectively build the capacity of multisectoral teams to take coordinated action which in turn built the capacity of communities to sustain them. The impact on child nutrition was inconclusive and needed to be interpreted within the context of economic collapse in the intervention area. Four factors were found to have been crucial for creating the enabling environment for effective intersectoral action (i) supportive government policy (ii) broad participation and capacity building (iii) involving policy makers as advisors and establishing the credibility of the research and (iii) strengthening community action. If lessons learned from this study can be adapted and applied in other contexts then they could have a significant economic and societal impact on health and nutrition equity in informal urban settlements.     

Patterns of fertility preferences and contraceptive behaviour over time: change and continuities among the urban poor in Nairobi,Kenya

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the association between fertility preferences and contraceptive use among 15–49-year-old women living in Korogocho and Viwandani, informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya. We draw on longitudinal data collected under the Maternal and Child Health project conducted between 2006 and 2010 in the two settlements. There is substantial regularity and stability but also unusual instability in reported fertility preferences over time among women living in these settings. Younger women, aged 15–24 years, are likely to change their preferences over time, passing from limiting to wanting additional children. But women aged 35–49 are likely to change their preferences from desiring more children to limiting their childbearing. The desire to limit childbearing is strongly associated with the use of modern and long-acting contraceptive methods. Findings have major implications for the success of family planning programmes in informal settlements where access to and knowledge about contraception may be limited.     

Child Health Surveillance in England and Wales: the good news

Postal surveys were conducted in 1993 among all, or samples of, six groups of providers and managers of pre-school child health surveillance (CHS) in England and Wales. Content analyses were also carried out of strategic policy statements for CHS produced by 54 district health authorities in England and Wales. The surveys aimed to document the views and experiences of CHS providers and managers about the impact of recent changes affecting the structure and operation of CHS, including the publication of Health for All Children , the 1990 Contract for General Practitioners (GPs), the implementation of the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 , and the changing roles of community doctors and health visitors. Five positive findings from the surveys are discussed: the impact of the first edition of Health for All Children ; improvements in the development and use of child health information systems; the beneficial effects of the growing involvement of GPs in CHS; the developing understanding of, and commitment to, the principle of clinical audit in CHS; and the growing collaboration between providers in the NHS internal market. A separate paper reports the negative findings from the study.     

Child Health Surveillance in England and Wales: the bad news

Postal surveys were conducted in 1993 among all, or samples of, six groups of providers and managers of pre-school child health surveillance (CHS) in England and Wales. Content analyses were also carried out of strategic policy statements for CHS produced by 54 district health authorities in England and Wales. The surveys aimed to document the views and experiences of CHS providers and managers about the impact of recent changes affecting the structure and operation of CHS, including the publication of Health for All Children , the 1990 Contract for General Practitioners (GPs), the implementation of the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 , and the changing roles of community doctors and health visitors. Four adverse findings from the surveys are discussed: fragmentation in the child health service; the unwanted effects of the NHS internal market; the adverse consequences of the changing role of health visitors; and the concerns voiced by the community doctors about the quality of CHS in general practice.     

Employment Loss in Informal Settlements during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Chile

The Covid-19 pandemic has reached almost every corner of the world. Despite the historical development, approval, and distribution of vaccines in some countries, non-pharmaceutical interventions will remain an essential strategy to control the pandemic until a substantial proportion of the population has immunity. There is increasing evidence of the devastating social and economic effects of the pandemic, particularly on vulnerable communities. Individuals living in urban informal settlements are in a structurally disadvantaged position to cope with a health crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic. Estimates of this impact are needed to inform and prioritize policy decisions and actions. We study employment loss in informal settlements before and during the Covid-19 pandemic in Chile, using a longitudinal panel study of households living in Chile’s informal settlements before and during the health crisis. We show that before the pandemic, 75% of respondents reported being employed. There is a decrease of 30 and 40 percentage points in May and September 2020, respectively. We show that the employment loss is substantially higher for individuals in informal settlements than for the general population and has particularly affected the immigrant population. We also show that the pandemic has triggered neighborhood cooperation within the settlements and that targeted government assistance programs have reached these communities in a limited way. Our results suggest that individuals living in informal settlements are facing severe hardship as a consequence of the pandemic. In addition to providing much-needed support, this crisis presents a unique opportunity for long-term improvements in these marginalized communities.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11524-021-00575-6.     

Urban Health Inequities and the Added Pressure of Climate Change: An Action-Oriented Research Agenda

Climate change will likely exacerbate already existing urban social inequities and health risks, thereby exacerbating existing urban health inequities. Cities in low- and middle-income countries are particularly vulnerable. Urbanization is both a cause of and potential solution to global climate change. Most population growth in the foreseeable future will occur in urban areas primarily in developing countries. How this growth is managed has enormous implications for climate change given the increasing concentration and magnitude of economic production in urban localities, as well as the higher consumption practices of urbanites, especially the middle classes, compared to rural populations. There is still much to learn about the extent to which climate change affects urban health equity and what can be done effectively in different socio-political and socio-economic contexts to improve the health of urban dwelling humans and the environment. But it is clear that equity-oriented climate change adaptation means attention to the social conditions in which urban populations live—this is not just a climate change policy issue, it requires inter-sectoral action. Policies and programs in urban planning and design, workplace health and safety, and urban agriculture can help mitigate further climate change and adapt to existing climate change. If done well, these will also be good for urban health equity.     

Missed Opportunities for Reproductive and Child Health Services of Clients in Urban NGO Clinics of Bangladesh

Objectives: The study was undertaken to identify the extent of missed opportunities of clients for selected reproductive and child health services, including the reasons and factors contributing to missed opportunities, in NGO clinics in Bangladesh. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 6 NGO clinics from 6 randomly-selected municipality areas was conducted for one month during July-August 2000. In total, 1,478 clients were consecutively selected both from fixed and satellite clinics. A structured questionnaire was used for conducting exit-interviews. Results: Missed opportunities among female clients of reproductive age included tetanus toxoid (54%), family planning (26%), postnatal care (16%), reproductive tract infection (15%), and antenatal care (11%). The missed opportunities among children aged less than 5 years were the highest (42%) for acute respiratory infections, followed by diarrhoea (38%) and immunization (22%). Although the clients of clinics had specific health needs, over 50% did not perceive their importance, resulting in missed opportunities. Significantly higher missed opportunities for tetanus toxoid were observed among women aged 26 years and over and also among housewives. Missed opportunity for family-planning method was significantly lower (p < 0.01) among women aged 26 years and over compared to women aged 20–25 years. Missed opportunities for child immunization were significantly higher (p < 0.05) among the children living nearer ( <1 km) to the clinic compared to children who lived >1 km away from the clinic. Conclusions: The findings suggest that providing a broader range of services alone is not enough to ensure their use. A systematic screening mechanism should be in place for regular appraisal of clients for their missed opportunities. Behavioral change communication needs to be introduced to increase awareness among clients about the availability of additional services.     

The effect of subsidized childcare on the supply of informal care: Evidence from public kindergarten provision in the US

For informal caregivers in certain demographic groups, the tradeoff between childcare and informal care may be as significant as the tradeoff between informal care and labor supply. We shed light on this tradeoff empirically, by combining detailed time use data with a natural experiment created by differential access to publicly funded kindergarten across households and states. We find a substantial elasticity between informal care supply and kindergarten access, especially for female carers. In fact, for women, kindergarten access appears to largely increase their care supply rather than labor supply.     

Delayed vaccination and its predictors among children under 2 years in India: Insights from the national family health survey–4

Objective

Delayed vaccination increases the susceptibility window for vaccine preventable diseases. Our analysis estimates the proportion of children between 10 and 23?months of age with delayed vaccination in India and the associated socio-demographic, maternal and child related factors.

Financial Incentives,Targeting, and Utilization of Child Health Services: Experimental Evidence from Zambia

To address untreated infections in children, routine health checkups have increasingly been incentivized as part of conditional cash transfer programs targeted at the poor. We conducted a field experiment in Zambia to assess the elasticity of demand for checkups as well as the associated health benefits. We find that relatively small incentives induce substantial increases in uptake among non‐farming households and households living farther away from clinics, but not among households in the top wealth quintile. These results suggest that small financial incentives may be an efficient way to target poor populations. However, given the weak socioeconomic gradient in infections observed, small incentives will miss a substantial fraction of exposed children. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cultural Capital and Self-Rated Health in Low Income Women: Evidence from the Urban Health Study, Beirut, Lebanon

This paper examines the association between cultural capital and self-rated psychosocial health among poor, ever-married Lebanese women living in an urban context. Both self-rated general and mental health status were assessed using data from a cross-sectional survey of 1,869 women conducted in 2003. Associations between self-rated general and mental health status and cultural capital were obtained using χ ² tests and odds ratios from binary logistic regression models. Cultural capital had significant associations with self-perceived general and mental health status net of the effects of social capital, SES, demographics, community and health risk factors. For example, the odds ratios for poor general and mental health associated with low cultural capital were 4.5 (CI: 2.95–6.95) and 2.9 (CI: 2.09–4.05), respectively, as compared to participants with high cultural capital. As expected, health risk factors were significantly associated with both measures of health status. However, demographic and community variables were associated with general health but not with mental health status. The findings pertaining to social capital and measures of SES were mixed. Cultural capital was a powerful and significant predictor of self-perceived general and mental health among women living in poor urban communities.Khawaja and Mowafi are with the Center for Research on Population and Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Box: 11-0236, Riad El-Solh, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon.     

2010-2018年兰州市妇幼保健机构卫生资源配置情况分析

目的评价2010-2018年兰州市妇幼保健机构卫生资源配置的变化趋势,为兰州市妇幼卫生事业的可持续发展提供依据。方法对2010-2018年兰州市妇幼保健院上报的行政报表进行整理分析,计算其增长速度。结果兰州市妇幼保健机构各类资源总体呈增长趋势。床位数、卫生技术人员数和卫生总费用的定基比增长速度分别为218.10%、169.71%和524.07%,年平均增长速度分别为15.56%、13.20%和25.72%;卫技人员学历以本科及以上为主,职称以初级为主;门诊人次、住院人次、每名医生的门诊诊疗人次和承担的入院病人数的定基比增长速度分别为156.37%、242.68%、23.80%和65.47%,年均增速分别为12.49%、16.64%、2.70%和6.50%;每万人口床位数和卫技人员数9年间增长了149.26%、124.41%,年均增长12.96%、10.63%。结论 2010-2018年兰州市妇幼保健工作成绩显著,但仍需增加保健部技术人员,培养和引进高学历和高级职称人才。     

Understanding Adult Vaccination in Urban,Lower-Socioeconomic Settings: Influence of Physician and Prevention Systems

PURPOSE Vaccination rates for pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV) and influenza vaccine are relatively low in disadvantaged urban populations. This study was designed to assess which physician and practice characteristics might explain differences in rates across physicians.METHODS PPV and influenza vaccination rates were determined for 2,021 patients aged 65 years and older receiving care from 30 physicians in 17 practices surveyed about their office systems for providing adult immunizations. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analyses were used to examine the relationships among vaccination rates, patient-level characteristics, and physician variables.RESULTS Overall, the weighted PPV vaccination rate was 60.0% and varied widely across physicians (range, 11%–98%). At the patient level in HLM, patient race (P=.01) and age (P = .02), but not neighborhood income, were associated with PPV status. By linking physician survey data with PPV rates, we found the best pair of physician variables to be “reported time spent with patients for a well visit” (P = .01) and “use of enhanced immunization documentation” (P=.10). The overall influenza vaccination rate was 51.9% (range, 22%–96%). Patient race (P=.003) and age (P = .002) were associated with influenza vaccination. The pair of physician variables with the strongest association with influenza vaccination was “use of standing orders” (P <.001) and “average observed physician examination room time,” regardless of visit type (P=.02).CONCLUSIONS Vaccination rates vary widely in urban settings and are associated with practice characteristics such as time spent with patients and, for influenza vaccine, use of standing orders.     

Assessing Community Health Information Systems: Evidence from Child Health Records in Food Insecure Areas of the Ethiopian Highlands

Maternal and Child Health Journal - This study assessed the completeness of child health records maintained and collected within community health information system in Ethiopia. A household listing...