We confirmed a bacteremic typhoid fever incidence of 3.9 episodes/1,000 person-years during fever surveillance in a Dhaka urban slum. The relative risk for preschool children compared with older persons was 8.9. Our regression model showed that these children were clinically ill, which suggests a role for preschool immunization.

BACKGROUND Knowledge of tuberculosis has been shown to influence health seeking behaviour; and urban slum dwellers are at a higher risk of acquiring tuberculosis than the general population. The study aim was to assess knowledge of tuberculosis and identify the associated socio-demographic determinants, in order to inform tailored interventions for advocacy, communication and social mobilisatio...

BACKGROUND In Bangladesh, particularly in urban slums, married adolescent women's human rights to life, health, and reproductive and sexual health remain adversely affected because of the structural inequalities and political economic, social and cultural conditions which shape how rights are understood, negotiated and lived. METHODS The focus of the research and methods was anthropological. ...

BACKGROUND Tungiasis, caused by the sand flea Tunga penetrans, is highly prevalent in many resource-poor communities in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Studies on knowledge and treatment practices related to tungiasis in affected populations are virtually nonexistent. To fill this gap, we performed a study in two resource-poor communities in northeast Brazil where this para...

Turkish metropolises suffer poor infrastructure systems and weak structures due to unplanned urbanization as a result of migration waves from rural to urban. Slum clearance was a necessity to provide safe and quality life in the metropolises. Through the enaction of related laws and establishment of Housing Development Administration of Turkey (TOKİ) a new era started on urban regeneration. Sin...

OBJECTIVE Of this pilot study was to assess the iron status and dietary intake of 1-3 year-old apparently healthy toddlers of the lower socio-economic class, and the effect of eight weeks intervention with liquid oral iron in an urban slum in Pune, India. METHODS 50 toddlers (M= 25, F= 25) with mean age of 2.4 years (SD 0.82) were evaluated. Anthropometry, Food Frequency Questionnaire, a hemo...

OBJECTIVE Infant and child mortality are important indicators of the level of development of a society, but are usually collected by governmental agencies on a region wide scale, with little local stratification. In order to formulate appropriate local policies for intervention, it is important to know the patterns of morbidity and mortality in children in the local setting. METHODS This retr...

Slums are examples of localized communities within third world urban systems representing a range of vulnerabilities and adaptive capacities. This study examines vulnerability in relation to flooding, environmental degradation, social-status, demographics, and health in the slums of Accra, Ghana by utilizing a place-based approach informed by fieldwork, remote sensing, census data, and geograph...

Acknowledgements I am extremely grateful for the support and guidance provided by my advisor, Dr. Erica Field, in talking through data collection challenges and my data analysis and empirical strategy. I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Michelle Connolly, who provided immensely valuable feedback over the last year for the research study. Without Dr. Connolly's meticulous support, this thesis...

Asia is home to the largest population of people living in informal settlements and slums. Its southern and eastern sub regions house over 80% of slum dwellers in the entire region. The most notable success stories in Asia, in terms of decreasing slum growth significantly, have occurred in South-East Asia, where policies implemented between the 1970’s to early 2000’s have strongly impacted the ...