Inside an Urban House - A Cross Sectional Study on Urban Housing Standards

Abstract

Introduction: Poor housing can increase the risk to people due to structurally deficient housing, poor construction or maintenance, can increase the chances of fall and risk of injuries. Indoor environment refers to the quality of air inside the dwelling. From different sources indoor air pollution can occur, mainly from inappropriate building materials can cause cracks, crevices, moulds and dust. Objective: To assess the housing standards in urban field practice area under Department of Community medicine, Sri Devaraj Urs Medical College, Tamaka, Kolar. Materials & Methods: A community based cross-sectional study using universal sampling technique conducted in urban Kolar Karnataka. Among all households living for at least minimum of 1-year duration under Gandhi Nagar P.H.C urban field practice area of Department of Community Medicine, SDUMC, Kolar were approached and house to house survey was done. Interview was done to Head of the family or the most senior member available in the family on the survey day. The data was analysed by using licensed SPSS version 22. Descriptive statistics like frequencies, proportions and confidence intervals were used. Chi-square test applied test the significance difference. Results: Among the 608 houses surveyed, 96.1% houses have independent access to street, 65.3% of houses are away from breeding places of flies,79.9% of houses are away from the nuisance such as smoke, smell excessive noise and traffic. Around half of the houses (48%) have obstruction to lighting and ventilation, 44.2% houses doesn’t have open space all around the house and 50.5% houses have overcrowding. Conclusion: Housing conditions in urban areas failed to meet the requirements for health with a substantial range of hazards present. Housing conditions have to improve on lighting, Ventilation, sewerage system, waste disposal and closing open drainages around the houses. Keywords: Housing, Housing standards, Urban