Researching Urban Slum Health in Nima, a Slum in Accra

Abstract

The UN-Habitat defines a slum as a human settlement with inadequate access to safe water, inadequate access to sanitation and other infrastructure, poor structural quality of housing, overcrowding; and insecure residential status (UN-Habitat 2005; Riley et al. 2007). In 2007, these characteristics defined 43 % of combined urban populations in developing countries and about 78 % of the urban population in least developed countries (Vlahov et al. 2007). An estimated one billion people live in slums and this number is expected to rise to about two billion by 2030 and about three billion by 2050 if current trends continue (UN-Habitat 2005). Slum growth is mostly a result of high population growth with low industrialization, a predominant feature in less developed countries (LDCs) of Asia and Africa. The huge gap between the available facilities and needs of slum dwellers produces rapid deterioration of amenities due to excessive pressure (Arku et al. 2011).