[Alma Mata] Case studies and human interest stories for Urbanisation chapter

[Andrew Khodabukus]

Global Health Watch are looking for  cases studies in urban health as suppporting evidence in their alternative World Health Report.
   
  More information is below

bridgetlloyd <bridgetlloyd at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
  Date: 23 Mar 2007 02:27:19 -0700
To: GHWatch-newsletter at yahoogroups.com
From: "bridgetlloyd" <bridgetlloyd at yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 09:27:04 -0000
Subject: [GHWatch-newsletter] Case studies and human interest stories for Urbanisation chapter

    .

 Dear friends

Case studies and human interest stories on Urbanisation

The Global Health Watch provides an alternative assessment of the 
gross inequalities in health worldwide, "watches" the institutions of 
global health and development governance, and makes recommendations 
for new approaches to some of the most intractable health problems in 
the world today. 

We would like to ensure that people's health issues and indigenous 
health issues are reflected within the second edition of Global 
Health Watch, and would like your assistance and input in writing and 
sourcing human interest stories written in a simple narrative style. 
Where it is not possible to integrate stories submitted within 
chapters, we will put them on the web site. We would like both 
positive and negative stories, successes and failures, etc.

Please forward this request on to others and encourage people to 
write up their experiences. The Urbanisation chapter framework is 
below and more chapter frameworks are to follow.

More information on GHW can be found on www.ghwatch. org. The full 
edition of GHW and a shorter advocacy document Global Health Action 
can be downloaded from the GHW website.

Best wishes

Bridget

Framework for the chapter on Urbanisation and Health

1. Definition, extent and trends in urbanisation:
- What constitutes 'urban' and what are key-characteristics of 
the urban setting (with implications for health and health equity) 
- Current extent of urbanisation, viz percentage of global 
population living in urban settings 
- Trajectory of urbanisation, viz rate of growth of urban 
population in different regions

2. Nature and context of urbanisation
- Nature of urbanisation in past 50, and especially past 20 
years. Proportion of 'newly-arrived' urban population that is poor 
- Factors driving urbanisation, e.g. natural increase and 
migration (viz 'push' and 'pull' factors e.g. landlessness, rural 
pauperization, opportunities for employment, better availability of 
services, conflict, etc) 
- Similarities and differences between urbanisation in late 
20th/21st Century compared to earlier urbanisation during economic 
expansion of 19th/early 20th Centuries, viz industrialization and 
expansion of employment vs. de-industrializatio n and shrinking of 
formal sector workforce in many LIC's and MIC's

3. Health Aspects of Urbanisation / the urban setting
- Health Impact (Disease pattern) of squalid urbanisation – 
combination of 'pre-transitional' causes (nutritional deficiencies 
and infections), plus 'new' urban infections eg Dengue Haemorrhagic 
Fever, co-existing with growing epidemic of non-communicable diseases 
(hypertension, obesity,diabetes) and escalating rates of violent 
trauma. In SSA HIV/AIDS. Epidemiological polarisation vs transition
- Environmental and social aspects of above disease pattern, 
including poor housing and homelessness; poor diets with high content 
of processed foods; inadequate/inaccess ible sanitation, Water, refuse 
removal, recreational facilities; alcohol and substance abuse; 
violence and trauma etc.
- Apart of urban (population) health, also examine "health of 
the urban setting" e.g. the existence of increasing inequalities 
within a territorial area has implications for overall (whole city) 
health (see Wilkinson). Participation in decision-making / exclusion
- Water is used as an example to illustrate this. E.g. the case 
of Cochabamba

4. A critical view of approaches to addressing urban health problems
- 'Healthy Cities' Movement – diversity, successes and 
failures, and reasons for failure 
- Slum upgrading and current focus of Habitat 
- Urban PHC and use of CHW's 
- Policy initiatives e.g. public works programmes 
- Comprehensive public health plans (Water: an example)

5. Critical analysis of "New and innovative" approaches
- Examples of participatory urban governance and health action
- Examples of 'partnerships' between government and private 
sector

6. Concluding comments; moving beyond local approaches (the need to 
move beyond approaches that are limited to the "urban setting")
        

        __________________ 
Andrew Khodabukus
  News Editor, Alma Mata
  http://www.almamata.net
  andrew.khodabukus at almamata.net
   
  00 44 7879 686 716 (Mobile)
  Raise 150 000 euros for WaterAid  http://www.aquaplastics.org/