Slum Clusters Research Articles

A Holistic Concept to Design Optimal Water Supply Infrastructures for Informal Settlements Using Remote Sensing Data

Ensuring access to water and sanitation for all is Goal No. 6 of the 17 UN Sustainability Development Goals to transform our world. As one step towards this goal, we present an approach that leverages remote sensing data to plan optimal water supply networks for informal urban settlements. The concept focuses on slums within large urban areas, which are often characterized by a lack of an appropriate water supply. We apply methods of mathematical optimization aiming to find a network describing the optimal supply infrastructure. Hereby, we choose between different decentral and central approaches combining supply by motorized vehicles with supply by pipe systems. For the purposes of illustration, we apply the approach to two small slum clusters in Dhaka and Dar es Salaam. We show our optimization results, which represent the lowest cost water supply systems possible. Additionally, we compare the optimal solutions of the two clusters (also for varying input parameters, such as population densities and slum size development over time) and describe how the result of the optimization depends on the entered remote sensing data.

Awareness Regarding Eye Donation in an Urban Slum Population: A Community-Based Survey.

Our objective was to assess the awareness of eye donation in an urban slum population and willingness to donate eyes after death. A cross-sectional, population-based study was undertaken in 20 urban slum clusters of the Indian capital, New Delhi. A total of 2004 individuals aged 18 years and older were recruited. After written, informed consent was obtained, knowledge regarding eye donation was assessed through a predesigned close-ended questionnaire. The questionnaire was framed so as to understand the sociodemographic factors influencing the willingness to donate and the awareness of eye donation in this distinct population. The mean age of the recruited individuals was 36.53 ± 13.68 years. Age did not have any significant effect on awareness regarding eye donation. We observed that 34.3% of the study population had no knowledge of eye donation and that 7.78% of the study population had excellent knowledge. Education seemed to be an important determining factor regarding knowledge of eye donation. Multivariable logistic regression demonstrated better awareness among the Hindu population (81.1%) and those belonging to a higher caste (P < .05). The younger age group (those 18-30 years old) showed significant willingness to donate their eyes versus older age groups (P < .001). In our study population, male participants (P = .006), those classified as literate (P < .001), and those classified as Hindu (P < .001) were more willing to pledge their eyes for donation. Although there is substantial awareness about eye donation, willingness to pledge eyes was very low in the urban slum population. Additional efforts are needed to translate this awareness into actual eye donation in the urban poor population.

Do neighbourhood facilities matter for slum housing? Evidence from Indian slum clusters

Slum dwellers in developing countries reside in inhuman conditions, with little provision of basic facilities and with considerable overlap between sources of drinking water supply, sewerage and the area for garbage disposal. Is it because clean environment does not enter their decision function for residence selection or is it simply non-affordability? We examine these questions in the context of the registered slum clusters of four Indian cities – Mathura, Ujjain, Jaipur and Ludhiana. A primary survey was conducted in these cities under a project on urban poverty undertaken jointly by the United Nations Development Programme and the Government of India in 2006–2007, based on which this analysis has been pursued. A reduced form hedonic equation of house prices of owned residential units is estimated to ascertain slum dwellers’ preferences in house selection. We find house prices vary consistently with many structural variables, but with only two of the neighbourhood features – streetlight and sewage facility provided by the government. Most of the other neighbourhood variables like provision of water, garbage collection, healthcare etc. including presence of open drain in the neighbourhood have insignificant effect on house prices. Measures of willingness to pay show strong promise of cost sharing for slum improvisation programs for facilities like sewage and street lights. Further, slums located within the city, closer to the CBD fetch higher prices. Slum residents expect public provision of other facilities.

Association between maternal health literacy and child vaccination in India: a cross-sectional study.

BackgroundEducation of mothers may improve child health. We investigated whether maternal health literacy, a rapidly modifiable factor related to mother's education, was associated with children's receipt of vaccines in two underserved Indian communities.MethodsCross-sectional surveys in an urban and a rural site. We assessed health literacy using Indian child health promotion materials. The outcome was receipt of three doses of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3) vaccine. We used multivariate logistic regression to investigate the relationship between maternal health literacy and vaccination status independently in each site. For both sites, adjusted models considered maternal age, maternal and paternal education, child sex, birth order, household religion and wealth quintile. Rural analyses used multilevel models adjusted for service delivery characteristics. Urban analyses represented cluster characteristics through fixed effects.ResultsThe rural analysis included 1170 women from 60 villages. The urban analysis included 670 women from nine slum clusters. In each site, crude and adjusted models revealed a positive association between maternal health literacy and DTP3. In the rural site, the adjusted OR was 1.57 (95% CI 1.11 to 2.21, p=0.010) for those with medium health literacy, and OR=1.30 (95% CI 0.89 to 1.91, p=0.172) for those with high health literacy. In the urban site, the adjusted OR was 1.10 (95% CI 0.65 to 1.88, p=0.705) for those with medium health literacy, and OR=2.06 (95% CI 1.06 to 3.99, p=0.032) for those with high health literacy.ConclusionsIn these study settings, maternal health literacy is independently associated with child vaccination. Initiatives targeting health literacy could improve vaccination coverage.

The Status of Housing of Slums in Nanded City

The housing status of slums in Nanded is very poor. They have not proper shelter for them. They live near the railway tracks and road banks in kaccha and semi kaccha houses. They are not able to fulfil their basic needs like food, cloths etc. The study emphasis about the sanitation conditions of slum clusters, the unhygienity prevail due to open urination and excretion. They have not able to access the basic household amenities. In present paper we tried to study the slum settlement, slum population & land ownership of slums in the Nanded city. Slum dwellers live in the difficult social and economic conditions that manifest in different forms of deprivation material, physical, social, and political in Nanded city. The slum area does not have even the essential facilities; for example, health care, water supply, roads, disposition of wastages, etc. In comparison with the south part of the city, the slums and the slum-dwellers are increasing in the north. Not only the slum dwellers but also the number of slums is increasing in the city. In 1971 total population of Nanded city were 126518 out of which Slum population were 20000 and in 2011 total population of city increases up to 550564 out of which Slum population is 279024. The slum population accounts 15.80 percent of the city population in 1971 whereas it increases up to 38.79 in 2011. This shows that rapid increase in slum population in Nanded city and it creates many social and economical problems in Nanded city.

Socio-Economic Profile of Slum Dwellers in Kotkapura Town

India is one of the most urbanized countries in the world, because India has the second largest urban population in the world. So growth rate of urban population of India has seen a phenomenal increase. So due to this urbanization process slum population is increasing day by day. Slum Population simply refers to people living in slum areas below the poverty line. The present study reveals that there are 6 main slum clusters in the kotkapura town. These 6 clusters are distributing different sites of town. This study attempts to examine the growth of slums and the efforts made by Kotkapura to the development of slums. The socio-economic conditions of the slum dwellers in the town need to study thoroughly as it help to know the reality of slum population.

Why women choose to give birth at home: a situational analysis from urban slums of Delhi

ObjectivesIncreasing institutional births is an important strategy for attaining Millennium Development Goal -5. However, rapid growth of low income and migrant populations in urban settings in low-income and middle-income countries,...

Locating the Livelihood Problems for the Promotion of Sustainable Life in Slums of Dehradun, Uttrakhand, India using Ikonos High Resolution Satellite Image

Smaller Settlements are important for sustainable housing; however, a large proportion of urban area is covered by squatter settlements and slums in Indian cities with poor housing facilities. Growth of such slum clusters is a major problem which is further exacerbated by increasing urban development and deficit of affordable housing. There are many challenges in the task of making cities free of slums and improve the situation in existing slums. Spatial mapping of such areas is an effective tool for the improvement of slums. In this study, an attempt has been made to study the slum settlements in Dehradun city with an objective to provide useful information on sustainable housing as well as help planners make appropriate interventions using remote sensing and GIS. The purpose of this study is to locate the livelihood problems for promotion of sustainable life in slums, households having roof material other than concrete, not having facility of drinking water; drainage and latrine are treated as slums as well as contiguous area with 20-25 households.

Risk Factor Analysis for Oral Precancer among Slum Dwellers in Delhi, India.

Background:An outfall of urbanization in developing countries has been the mushrooming of slums where dwellers live in pitiable environmental conditions representing the lowest rung of social strata. This group is more vulnerable to practicing deleterious social habits, including tobacco and alcohol abuse.Aim:The present study was undertaken to understand the strength of association between risk factors suspected of causing oral precancer among slum dwellers in Delhi.Subjects and Methods:A house-to-house survey was conducted in an urban slum cluster situated in the heart of Delhi city by a single trained investigator who recorded oral mucosal lesions according to WHO criteria. Demographic details and history of suspected risk factors was recorded by personal interview of each subject. The obtained data was coded, cleaned, and analyzed manually. Chi-square test was applied and Odds’ ratios were calculated to analyze the association of risk factors with oral precancer. A statistically significant difference was set at 95% confidence interval.Results:A total of 479 subjects of both sexes were examined and 31 cases clinically diagnosed as having oral precancer, of which majority were leukoplakia. All cases except one reported practicing habits that are known risk factors for oral precancer, i.e., smoking/smokeless tobacco, chewing betel leaf/nut, and combination of these habits with alcohol. Association of oral precancer with smokeless tobacco was higher than that with smoking or chewing betel leaf/nut alone.Conclusion:Practicing combination of habits with alcohol was found to be the most strongly associated risk factor for oral precancer.

The Social Practices of Governing

Delhi’s slums face recurrent and disturbing waste water-related problems: overflowing drains, stagnation of sewerage near or within houses, and subsequent mosquito breeding cause difficulties for everyday life and serious health hazards. The question arises for the affected people as well as administration, how to deal with this tremendous challenge? Governance is defined as ‘exercise of authority, control, management, power of government’ (World Bank, 1992, p. 3) and is used to explain differential outcomes of development interventions. It is widely recognized to be the task of the state, the private sector and civil society conjunctly (UNDP, 1997). Yet, the development debate is suggestive of a rather organized process of governance; of negotiations that lead to the identification of a common goal; and of a rational, technical, and somewhat apolitical management of means of reaching this goal. From this perspective, the waste water situation in Delhi’s slums presents a clear case of governance failure. This article aims at shedding these assumptions and the conclusion they point at, and rather expose the scattered, piece-meal and conflict-ridden character of governance practices and outcomes in the urban everyday. It therefore takes a bottom-up perspective on governance, starting from the empirical evidence of waste water governance in one slum cluster in west Delhi.

An Exploratory Analysis of Deprivation and Ill-Health Led Poverty in Urban India: A Case Study of Delhi

This paper examines the multi-dimensional nature of urban poverty with special emphasis on ill-health led deprivation. As a driver of poverty, ill-health reduces the income earning potential and increases expenditure on medication, thereby causing asset depletion, increasing debt and worsening poverty. The bulk of ill-health related expenditure in India is borne by households themselves and almost all of this is in the form of out-of-pocket spending. Hence this paper attempts to explore the links between urban poverty and ill-health through a case study based on evidence from150 households with a history of ailment, located in two slum clusters of Delhi. The paper explores the patterns of morbidity, health care utilisation and treatment cost within these households. It further estimates the economic burden of ill-health as measured by illness induced impoverishment, and also brings out its variation across select socio-economic and disease characteristics within the sample households. Using this evidence, it argues for explicitly raising existing poverty lines based on “norm based” expenditure required for meeting the direct and indirect costs of health shocks and their aftermath and for priority provisioning of substantial government resources for the health sector.

Institutions, access, and entitlements to water supply: the case of urban households in the Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu

This paper discusses the institutions, access, and entitlements to water supply in urban households in slum clusters and developed regions.The major institutions of water supply in the area of study are the municipal tap, self provision by groundwater sources, and water vendors. The planned urban limit and the unplanned urban limit are the sole factors that determine the institutional arrangements for water supply and the availability of combination of sources between the regions. Sen's entitlements approach is applied for estimating access to water supply among different income groups, institutions, and regions.The study finds that the quantity of water access differs between the developed regions and the slum clusters, which highlights the inefficiency of institutional arrangements and the prevalence of inequality in water access.

HIV-related risk behaviours and the correlates among rickshaw pullers of Kamrangirchar, Dhaka, Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study using probability sampling

BackgroundNational HIV serological and behavioural surveillance of Bangladesh repeatedly demonstrated a very high proportion of rickshaw pullers in Dhaka city, having sex with female sex workers (FSWs) and using illicit substances. However, no study has been conducted to identify the correlates of having sex with FSWs among this population. This study aimed to describe behavioural profile of rickshaw pullers in Dhaka city using probability samples and to identify the correlates for having sex with FSWs in order to focus HIV prevention intervention.MethodsSix hundred rickshaw pullers were randomly selected from rickshaw garages in the Kamrangirchar area, the single largest slum cluster of Dhaka, Bangladesh, during March–April 2008 using the Proportion Probability to Size method. Participants were interviewed, with a response rate of 99.2% (n = 595), using a structured questionnaire and asked about illicit substance use, sexual behaviour and risk perception for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases. Independent predictors of having sex with FSWs were analysed by multivariate analysis. A qualitative study was subsequently conducted with 30 rickshaw pullers to supplement the findings of the initial survey.ResultsThe proportion of survey respondents who had sex with FSWs and those who used illicit substances in the previous 12 months period were 7.9% and 24.9%, respectively, much lower than the results achieved in the 2003–04 behavioural surveillance (72.8% and 89.9%, respectively). Multivariate analysis revealed the characteristics of younger age, being never married, living alone with family remaining in other districts and using illicit substances in the previous 12 months were significantly associated with having sex with FSWs.ConclusionHIV-related risk behaviour of our study population of the rickshaw pullers was lower than what has been suggested by the results of behavioural surveillance. While this discrepancy should be addressed in further studies, our study emphasizes the importance of focused HIV prevention programs for rickshaw pullers as high-risk behaviour is displayed at an unacceptable level and concentrated in identifiable sub-populations.

Cluster-randomised controlled trial of community mobilisation in Mumbai slums to improve care during pregnancy, delivery, postpartum and for the newborn.

BackgroundThe United Nations Millennium Development Goals look to substantial improvements in child and maternal survival. Morbidity and mortality during pregnancy, delivery and the postnatal period are prime obstacles to achieving these goals. Given the increasing importance of urban health to global prospects, Mumbai's City Initiative for Newborn Health aims to improve maternal and neonatal health in vulnerable urban slum communities, through a combination of health service quality improvement and community participation. The protocol describes a trial of community intervention aimed at improving prevention, care seeking and outcomes.ObjectiveTo test an intervention that supports local women as facilitators in mobilising communities for better health care. Community women's groups will build an understanding of their potential to improve maternal and infant health, and develop and implement strategies to do so.DesignCluster-randomized controlled trial.MethodsThe intervention will employ local community-based female facilitators to convene groups and help them to explore maternal and neonatal health issues. Groups will meet fortnightly through a seven-phase process of sharing experiences, discussion of the issues raised, discovery of potential community strengths, building of a vision for action, design and implementation of community strategies, and evaluation.The unit of allocation will be an urban slum cluster of 1000–1500 households. 48 clusters have been randomly selected after stratification by ward. 24 clusters have been randomly allocated to receive the community intervention. 24 clusters will act as control groups, but will benefit from health service quality improvement. Indicators of effect will be measured through a surveillance system implemented by the project. Key distal outcome indicators will be neonatal mortality and maternal and neonatal morbidity. Key proximate outcome indicators will be home care practices, uptake of antenatal, delivery and postnatal care, and care for maternal and neonatal illness.Data will be collected through a vital registration system for births and deaths in the 48 study clusters. Structured interviews with families will be conducted at about 6 weeks after index deliveries. We will also collect both quantitative and qualitative data to support a process evaluation.Trial registrationCurrent controlled trials ISRCTN96256793

Exploring intra-household factors for diarrhoeal diseases: a study in slums of Delhi, India

While infrastructure conditions constitute 'primary routes', contamination of water within households and other behavioural determinants are considered as 'secondary routes'. However, recontaminated water has been considered not to constitute a serious risk though it occurs commonly in poorer societies. A study was conducted in Delhi where individual risk factors were located within a larger socio-economic, political and administrative framework, as they were often independent variables. This component of the larger study hypothesised that behavioural factors at individual household levels lose significance as major determinants of diarrhoeal diseases once they are analysed in a holistic epidemiology frame. Determinants at the household level were explored through a dataset based on a primary survey of 300 households in three slum clusters. Amongst households storing municipal water (proven to be safe at source), adhering to the best storage practices did not translate into lower incidence rates as compared to those with relatively unsafe practices. The explanation lay in factors which were external to the home and beyond the control of the affected household. Thus, household level behavioural factors such as storage practises should not be analysed in isolation as determinants of diarrhoeal illness particularly when pitted against stronger neighbourhood and external determinants.

Common cancers in India: knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of urban slum dwellers in New Delhi

What is the level of knowledge and awareness of common cancers? What are the prevalent attitudes and behaviours relating to common cancers? To assess knowledge, attitudes and behaviours regarding common cancers amongst urban slum dwellers in New Delhi. Field-based cross-sectional survey of an urban slum cluster. Slum clusters along Pankha Road, West New Delhi. Slum dwellers of selected slums. Independent variables were sociodemographic factors. Dependent variables were knowledge, attitudes and behaviours regarding preventive and curative aspects of common cancers. Proportions, confidence intervals, tests of significance and multiple logistic regression. Only 13% (10.6-15.7%) of the study participants were aware of Pap smears, and only 2% (1.1-3.3%) were able to identify all the common signs of cancer. However, 87% (84.4-89.5%) of the study participants knew that tobacco is a risk factor for cancer. Overall, 51% (47.2-54.7%) had some knowledge pertaining to cancer. A focused, concerted and effective information, education and communication drive is urgently needed for all aspects of common cancers in India.

Impact assessment of mass measles vaccination.

The mass measles vaccination campaign was conducted in the slums of Surat City, in Gujarat State, as a part of urban measles control initiative in India. One dose each of the vaccine was administered to children in the age range of 9-59 months residing in these slums, regardless of their previous vaccination status. One year later, (October 2000), the present study was carried out in order to assess the impact of the mass vaccination campaign on the vaccination coverage and on the incidence of measles by comparing the findings with those of the baseline survey carried out in May 98. This was a retrospective study with a recall period of the preceding year. 3,147 children under five were studied in thirty slum clusters selected by the cluster sampling method. The parents/caretakers of these children were interviewed for information on any episode of fever with rash conforming to the case definition. The incidence rate for measles declined from 7.7 percent reported in the baseline (May 1998) to 3.5 percent in the impact assessment study. The incidence was 8 times higher in unvaccinated children. The mean and median age at contracting the illness increased from 26 +/- 14.2 months and 26 months in the baseline to 30.9 +/- 14.7 months and 30 months respectively in the impact assessment. The vaccination coverage had improved from 48.3 percent to 73.7 percent following the campaign. The compaign increased vaccination coverage decreased disease incidence and caused a shift towards higher age-groups in vaccinated children.