Systematic Surveys in Informal Settlements: Challenges in Moving Toward Health Equity

Excerpt

Over one billion people in the world live in informal settlements called slums. Slum populations continue to grow with the push-pull forces toward cities. Push toward cities can be due to war and adverse weather such as droughts. Pull is related to the opportunity to generate wealth through either the formal or informal economy. Without city resources and legal stature, governments have responded over time by having many of these settlements not included in overall urban plans that could be developed to provide trunk services, health care, education, and job training. The municipal and national policies that do not lift living conditions result in making unsafe living conditions and disparities in health. Views and actions are changing for a number of urban informal settlements, and such changes have been due to a number of factors. One of these factors is having credible data to document conditions. …