Environmental and social determinants of health in informal settlements in Mbour, Senegal: challenges and policy directions

Abstract

Rapid urbanization has created many informal settlements around big and secondary cities in Africa, which brings along with specific challenges for global health. In urban informal settlements, residents are often burdened with multiple and overlapping challenges that can undermine the environmental and social determinants of health from poverty to overcrowded, to inadequate infrastructure, all of which can combine to contribute to increased risk of exposures to environmental pathogens that increase infectious like diarrheal diseases in urban poor areas. The purpose of our study was to highlight the most challenges related to environmental and social determinants of health in informal settlements in Mbour, Senegal and to suggest policy directions and interventions to meet these challenges. Geographical and epidemiological surveys using a pre-structured questionnaire with all household heads were carried out to assess the structural and intermediary determinants of health in informal settlements in Mbour. Our results showed that informal settlements residents in Mbour suffer from many challenges like poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, and low education attainments, unhealthy environment, lack of water supply and basic sanitation facilities; high prevalence of infectious diseases, particularly diarrheal diseases among under 5 years old children. Specific policy directions should be developed and implemented by policymakers and local authorities to meet these challenges by prioritizing interventions related to water, sanitation and waste management with a view to reducing the environmental and health risks in informal settlements in Mbour. With the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) focused on improving health and wellbeing for billions of city-dwellers, ameliorating the immediate living conditions in informal settlements should be viewed as a key strategy to promote health, equitable development and reduce climate change vulnerabilities in this context of global environmental change.