Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The STEP trials

A round-up of the STEP phase 3 clinical trials evaluating semaglutide for weight loss in people with overweight or obesity.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
BMC Public Health
Published in: BMC Public Health 1/2019

Open Access 01-12-2019 | Environmental Medicine | Research article

Overcrowding and health in two impoverished suburbs of Johannesburg, South Africa

Authors: Vusumuzi Nkosi, Tanya Haman, Nisha Naicker, Angela Mathee

Published in: BMC Public Health | Issue 1/2019

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

Rapid urbanization, unmatched by an associated supply of housing, has resulted in overcrowding in the cities of many developing countries, including in Johannesburg, South Africa. Household overcrowding has been associated with a range of ill-health outcomes, including acute respiratory infections and diarrhoeal diseases. The aim of this study was to describe the levels of household crowding, and examine associations with respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms in selected two low-income neighbourhoods in Johannesburg.

Methods

Questionnaire data from a panel study conducted over an 11-year period between 2006 and 2016 were extracted to conduct the analyses. Structured questionnaires, designed to collect information on housing conditions, socio-economic and health status were administered to adult representatives of households occupying the primary dwelling on pre-selected study sites.

Results

Over the 11-year study period, levels of overcrowding remained unchanged. Around 57.6% of dwellings in the study neighbourhoods were determined to be overcrowded in relation to international guidelines. Results from the multiple logistic regression analyses indicated that crowded dwellings were associated with elevated levels of acute respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms, as well as fever/chills.

Conclusion

Respondent perceptions varied from objective measures of overcrowding. Crowded dwellings were associated with elevated reports of acute respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms, as well as fever/chills.
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
Literature
1.
Bonnefoy X. Inadequate housing and health: an overview. Int J Environ Pollut. 2007;30(3):411–29.CrossRef
2.
Harling G, Castro MC. A spatial analysis of social and economic determinants of tuberculosis in Brazil. Health Place. 2011;25:56–67.CrossRef
3.
Tam K, Yousey-Hindes K, Hadler JL. Influenza-related hospitalization of adults associated with low census tract socioeconomic status and female sex in New Haven County, Connecticut, 2007-2011. Influenza Other Respir Viruses. 2014;8(3):274–81.CrossRef
4.
Da Fonseca-Lima EJ, Mello MJG, Lopes MIL, Serra GHC, Correia JB. Risk factors for community-acquired pneumonia in children under five years of age in the post-pneumococcal conjugate vaccine era in Brazil: a case-control study. BMC Pediatr. 2016;16:1–9.CrossRef
5.
Kristensen IA, OLSEN J. Determinants of acute respiratory infections in Soweto-a population-based birth cohort. SAMJ. 2006;96(7):633–40.PubMed
6.
Norheim G, Sadarangani M, Omar O, Yu LM, Mølbak K, Howitz M, Olcén P, Haglund M, Van Der Ende A, Pollard AJ. Association between population prevalence of smoking and incidence of meningococcal disease in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands between 1975 and 2009: a population-based time series analysis. BMJ Open. 2014;4(2):e003312.CrossRef
7.
Jaine R, Baker M, Venugopal K. Acute rheumatic fever associated with household crowding in a developed country. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2011;30(4):315–9.CrossRef
8.
United Nations (2015). World population prospects: the 2015 revision. New York: Department of Economic and Social Affairs; 2015. p. 1–66.
9.
Zhang Y. Urbanization, inequality, and poverty in the people’ s republic of China. Tokyo: ADBI Working paper; 2016. p. 1–35.
10.
Okeyinka Y. A study of housing adequacy of multi-habited houses in a typical Nigerian town. Int J Adv Multidiscip Soc Sci. 2015;1(1):7–12.
11.
Fiadzo E. On the Estimation of Determinants of Housing Quality: The Case of Ghana; 1997. p. 1–12.
12.
Statistics South Africa. Housing from a a human settlement perspective: in-depth analysis of he General Household Survey data 2002-2014. p. 2016.
13.
Melki IS, Beydoun HA, Khogali M, Tamim H, Yunis KA. National Collaborative Perinatal Neonatal Network (NCPNN). Household crowding index: a correlate of socioeconomic status and inter-pregnancy spacing in an urban setting. J Epidemiol Community Heal. 2004;58(6):476–80.CrossRef
14.
15.
Gove WR, Hughes MH, Galle O. Overcrowding in the household: an analysis of determinants and effects. New York: London England Academic Press; 1983. p. 35.
16.
Community Agency for Social Enquiry. A national household survey of health inequalities in South Africa; 1995. p. 1–263.
17.
Mathee A, Harpham T, Barnes B, Plagerson S, Feit M, Naidoo S. Overcoming fieldwork challenges in urban health research in developing countries: a research note. Int J Soc Res Methodol. 2010;13:171–8.CrossRef
18.
Moolla R, Kotze N, Block L. Housing satisfaction and quality of life in RDP houses in Braamfischerville, Soweto: A South African case study. Urbani Izziv. 2011;22(1):138–43.CrossRef
19.
20.
Hall K. Housing and services -overcrowding. South Africa: Stats South Africa; 2010. p. 1–5.
21.
Makinde O, Björkqvist K, Österman K. Overcrowding as a risk factor for domestic violence and antisocial behaviour among adolescents in Ejigbo, Lagos, Nigeria. Glob Ment Health. 2016;3:1–9.CrossRef
22.
23.
Groenwold RHH, Klungel OH. Selection of confounding variables should not be based on observed associations with exposure. Eur J Epidemiol. 2011;26:589–93.CrossRef
24.
Gortmaker SL, Hosmer DW, Lemeshow S. Applied Logistic Regressions. In: Cotemp Sociol. 2nd ed. New York: Wiley; 1994. p. 159.
25.
Govender T, Barnes JM, Pieper CH. Contribution of water pollution from inadequate sanitation and housing quality to diarrheal disease in low-cost housing settlements of Cape Town, South Africa. Am J Public Health. 2011;101(7):e4–9.CrossRef
26.
Buthelezi S, Kapwata T, Wernecke B, Webster C, Mathee A, Wright C. Household fuel use for heating and cooking and respiratory health in a low-income, South African coastal community. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019;550(16):1–12.
27.
Burge H, Arbor A. Prevalence and health effects in the indoor environment. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 1990;86:687–701.CrossRef
28.
Macintyre UE, De Villiers FP. The economic burden of diarrheal disease in a tertiary level hospital, Gauteng, South Africa. J Infect Dis. 2010;202:S116–25.CrossRef
29.
Tempia S, Moyes J, Cohen AL, Walaza S, Edoka I, McMorrow ML, et al. Health and economic burden of influenza-associated illness in South Africa, 2013-2015. Influenza Other Respi Viruses. 2019;13:484–95 Wiley.
30.
Leach AJ, Boswell JB, Asche V, Nienhuys TG, Mathews JD. Bacterial colonization of the nasopharynx predicts very early onset and persistence of otitis media in Australian aboriginal infants. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 1994;13(11):983–9.CrossRef
31.
Currie BJ, Carapetis JR. Skin infections and infestations in aboriginal communities in northern Australia. Australas J Dermatol. 2000;41(3):139–43.CrossRef
32.
Evans GW, Palsane MN, Lepore SJ, Martin J. Residential density and psychological health: the mediating effects of social support. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1989;57(6):994–9.CrossRef
33.
Browning CR, Byron RA, Calder CA, Krivo LJ, Kwan MP, LEE JY, Peterson RD. Commercial density, residential concentration, and crime: land use patterns and violence in neighborhood context. J Res Crime Delinq. 2010;47(3):329–57.CrossRef
34.
35.
Solis-Soto MT, Patiño A, Nowak D, Radon K. Association between environmental factors and current asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema symptoms in school-aged children from Oropeza Province--Bolivia: a cross-sectional study. Environ Health. 2013;12(95):1–9.
36.
Tsai CH, Huang JH, Hwang BF, Lee YL. Household environmental tobacco smoke and risks of asthma, wheeze and bronchitic symptoms among children in Taiwan. Respir Res. 2010;11(1):1–10.CrossRef
Metadata
Title
Overcrowding and health in two impoverished suburbs of Johannesburg, South Africa
Authors
Vusumuzi Nkosi
Tanya Haman
Nisha Naicker
Angela Mathee
Publication date
01-12-2019
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Public Health / Issue 1/2019
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2458
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7665-5

Other articles of this Issue 1/2019

BMC Public Health 1/2019 Go to the issue

Research article

Sub-national prevalence survey of tuberculosis in rural communities of Ethiopia

Research article

Challenges and perceptions of implementing mass testing, treatment and tracking in malaria control: a qualitative study in Pakro sub-district of Ghana

Research article

Schistosoma haematobium infection status and its associated risk factors among pregnant women in Munyenge, South West Region, Cameroon following scale-up of communal piped water sources from 2014 to 2017: a cross-sectional study

Research article

Optimising refugee children’s health/wellbeing in preparation for primary and secondary school: a qualitative inquiry

Research article

The influence of basic public health service project on maternal health services: an interrupted time series study

Research article

Health & Wealth: is weight loss success related to monetary savings in U.S. adults of low-income? Findings from a National Study