BACKGROUND A retrospective case-control study was undertaken to examine the spatial risk factors for human brucellosis in Kampala, Uganda. METHODS Information on age, sex and month of diagnosis was derived from records from plate agglutination tests undertaken at Mulago Hospital, Kampala. Information on Parishes (LC2s) where patients reside was sourced from the outpatient registration book. I...

Malaria not only remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, but it also impedes socioeconomic development, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Rapid and unprecedented urbanization, going hand-in-hand with often declining economies, might have profound implications for the epidemiology and control of malaria, as the relative disease burden increases among urban dwellers. Reviewing the l...

The slum is not only a manifestation of mismanaged urban planning in the countries of the South. The existence of slums worldwide is also a sign that the slum is a crucial element of contemporary urbanisation. This article will attempt to define this phenomenon and understand its causes. Adequate policy responses are then suggested. Without finding appropriate solutions to the housing problems ...

Urban dwellers are rapidly becoming a majority of the population. Most of them live in developing countries, and an ever-higher proportion in the biggest cities. Most of the world’s largest cities are now in developing countries, and they are growing to sizes never before experienced. The urban population is growing several times as fast as in the rural areas, either through natural growth (the...

I . The nutrient contents of diets consumed by families in the lower income groups in Lagos are compared with published values for diets consumed by Nigerians in rural areas. 2. Qualitatively, the dietary patterns of urban dwellers tended to resemble those of the regions from which they had migrated; attention is drawn to certain exceptions. 3. Quantitatively, urban diets resembled those in rur...

A growing number of cities around the world have established systems of monitoring the quality of urban life. Many of those systems combine objective and subjective information and attempt to cover a wide variety of topics. This paper introduces a simple method that takes advantage of both types of information and provides criteria to identify and rank the issues of potential importance for urb...

PROBLEM There is ongoing concern that governments at many levels are not devoting enough attention and resources to sanita tion services, particularly when compared to spending on water supply and other infrastructure services. Additionally, existing sanitation investments and service provision are not often pro-poor. Efforts to increase access to sanitation infrastructure often benefit better-...

One of the key 21st century challenges in population health is the challenge of improving the global urban condition. 2 Starting in 2007, and for the first time in human history, the majority of the world's population will live in urban areas. According to the latest UN projections, 3 by 2030, the world's urban population will increase by more than two billion, while the rural population will d...

BACKGROUND The burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) across many world regions is high. We aim to estimate COPD prevalence and number of disease cases for the years 1990 and 2010 across world regions based on the best available evidence in publicly accessible scientific databases. METHODS We conducted a systematic search of Medline, EMBASE and Global Health for original, popu...

a Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, 451 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8M5, Canada. Correspondence to Brodie Ramin (e-mail: [email protected]). Sub-Saharan Africa is the least urbanized region in the world. Only 39.1% of the region’s population lives in cities.1 However, the region’s urban population is projected to more than double to 760 million by 2030.1 The rate of urbanizat...