Climate and health in informal urban settlements

This paper guides those who are interested in the current and potential health impact of climate change on urban populations in low- and middle-income countries. It describes the sources and types of health data available to assess current disease burdens and the relative importance of environmental risk factors. This includes how to identify sources of mortality and morbidity data in cities. The paper also shows how health data are incorporated into survey designs with examples of how this can assess weather and climate-related disaster impacts on health in particular cities. Such work is challenging when routine health data (including the recording of causes of death) are not available.

Available at http://pubs.iied.org/10719IIED.html?c=urban

Further reading:

Environment and Urbanization (2011), “Health and the City”, Vol 23, No 1, available at http://eau.sagepub.com/content/23/1.toc.

Satterthwaite, David (2011), “Why is urban health so poor even in many successful cities?”, Environment and Urbanization Brief 22, at http://pubs.iied.org/10595IIED.html.  

Hoa, Dao Thi Mai, Do Anh Nguyet, Nguyen Hoang Phuong, Dang Thu Phuong, Vu Thu Nga, Roger Few and Alexandra Wi (2013), “Heat stress and adaptive capacity of low-income outdoor workers and their families in the city of Da Nang, Vietnam”, Asian Cities Climate Resilience Working Paper Series 3, available at http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/10051IIED.pdf.