Journal article
Improving the health and welfare of people who live in slums
RJ Lilford, O Oyebode, D Satterthwaite, GJ Melendez-Torres, YF Chen, B Mberu, SI Watson, J Sartori, R Ndugwa, W Caiaffa, T Haregu, A Capon, R Saith, A Ezeh
Lancet | ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC | Published : 2017
Abstract
In the first paper in this Series we assessed theoretical and empirical evidence and concluded that the health of people living in slums is a function not only of poverty but of intimately shared physical and social environments. In this paper we extend the theory of so-called neighbourhood effects. Slums offer high returns on investment because beneficial effects are shared across many people in densely populated neighbourhoods. Neighbourhood effects also help explain how and why the benefits of interventions vary between slum and non-slum spaces and between slums. We build on this spatial concept of slums to argue that, in all low-income and-middle-income countries, census tracts should he..
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Funding Acknowledgements
The authors thank Aileen Clarke, Christine MacArthur, Trevor Hancock, and Trudy Harpham for their useful review comments during the writing process; and Peter Chilton for his help with references, and preparing the figures and manuscript for publication. RJL and OO are supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) West Midlands initiative. WC is supported by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). The African Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC) team are supported in part from core support grants from the Hewlett Foundation, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and an anonymous funder. This paper presents independent research and the views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the funding sources, the National Health Service (NHS), or the UK Department of Health.