BACKGROUND The prevalence of unintended pregnancy in Kenya continues to be high. The 2003 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) showed that nearly 50% of unmarried women aged 15-19 and 45% of the married women reported their current pregnancies as mistimed or unwanted. The 2008-09 KDHS showed that 43% of married women in Kenya reported their current pregnancies were unintended. Unintended ...

In 2010, an estimated 860 million people were living in slums worldwide, with around 60 million added to the slum population between 2000 and 2010. In 2011, 200 million people in urban Indian households were considered to live in slums. In order to address and create slum development programmes and poverty alleviation methods, it is necessary to understand the needs of these communities. Theref...

U rban populations have skyrocketed globally and today represent more than half of the world’s population. In some parts of the developing world, this growth has more-than-proportionately involved rural migration to informal settlements in and around cities, known more commonly as “slums”— densely populated urban areas characterized by poor-quality housing, a lack of adequate living space and p...

BACKGROUND Urbanization is increasing around the world, and in India, this trend has translated into an increase in the size of slum dwellings whose environments are suspected of being associated with poor health outcomes, particularly those relating to women's nutritional status. With this study, we sought to determine the factors associated with Indian women's body mass index (BMI) in slum en...

INTRODUCTION Substance abuse is known public health problem in the world. Felt need of treatment and barriers in seeking treatment are important for successful treatment of addictions. Therefore, this study was designed to understand the pattern (type) of substance abuse among residents of urban slum and to study the felt need and barriers for the treatment of substance abuse among substance ab...

In 2008, the global urban population surpassed the rural population and by 2050 more than 6 billion will be living in urban centres. A growing body of research has reported on poor health outcomes among the urban poor but not much is known about HIV prevalence among this group. A survey of nearly 3000 men and women was conducted in two Nairobi slums in Kenya between 2006 and 2007, where respond...

Toilet facilities in highly dense areas such as the slum and emergency settlements fill up rapidly; thus, requiring frequent emptying. Consequently, big quantities of fresh faecal sludge (FS) containing large amounts of pathogens are generated. Fast and efficient FS treatment technologies are therefore required for safe treatment and disposal of the FS in such conditions. This study explores th...

OBJECTIVE To assess the awareness and attitude towards AIDS and PLHA in slum dwellers of Chennai, an Indian metropolis by KAP (Knowledge, Attitude, Practice) study. METHODS A cross sectional study was conducted in a representative sample of 650 subjects (400 females and 250 females), aged 15-45 years, by means of a questionnaire in the local dialect Tamil. RESULTS The overall literacy rate ...

BACKGROUND Access to child health services is an important determinant of child health. Whereas, child health indicators are generally better in urban than rural areas, some population groups in urban areas, such as children residing in urban slums do not enjoy this urban health advantage. In the context of increasing urbanisation and urban poverty manifesting with proliferation of urban slums,...