Urban Child Poverty Health And Survival In Low And Middle Income Countries

This report examines levels and trends in poverty, health status, and use of health services among children under age 5 living in large cities in low- and middle-income countries, and compares their health status and use of services to those of their other urban, rural, and non-poor counterparts. Twenty-six countries were selected for inclusion; these are the countries with one or more large cities of more than one million inhabitants in 2014 and that had at least two DHS surveys, one between 1998 and 2004 and a second in or after 2010. Poverty was assessed using the method of unsatisfied basic needs (UBN) to provide comparable levels in three categories (extremely poor, moderately poor, and not poor). Differentials in levels and decadal trends in 17 health indicators were examined, and the results are shown for individual countries, as well as for the pooled weighted cross-country averages. On average, across the 26 low- and middle-income countries studied, we estimate that three out of four children under age 5 live in extreme poverty. Poverty is highest in rural areas. About half of children under age 5 who live in large cities are extremely poor, over half in other urban areas, and more than 4 of 5 in rural areas. While extreme poverty has decreased overall and in rural areas, extreme poverty has increased in large cities. The chances of survival of children under age 5 are greatest in urban areas compared to rural areas. Poor children in large cities and other urban areas have similar chances of survival to age 5. Nutritional status of poor children in large cities is better than in other urban areas, which in turn is better than in rural areas. Both infant and under-five mortality have decreased substantially, with the greatest decadal decline observed among the extremely poor. Small improvements were made in children’s nutritional status, notably for stunting and anemia. Nutritional status has improved more among the poor than non-poor children in all areas, including the large cities. The survival gap between the poor and non-poor has narrowed considerably. Similarly, the disadvantage of poor children in stunting and anemia has been reduced. Among the 12 indicators of health service use in this report, nine show moderate or large differences between the poor and the not poor. The gap between the poor and not poor has narrowed for eight of these indicators. In large cities, the gap decreased for 10 of the 12 indicators, although the narrowing was small for three indicators. Overall, there appear to be numerous health advantages to living in an urban area, but these advantages are not conferred to all children. In survival, we see stark disparities across levels of poverty. For all indicators, the urban extremely poor children fare better than their rural extremely poor counterparts, but not as well as non-poor rural children. Despite the narrowing of gaps in many health outcomes between poor and nonpoor and between urban and rural areas, the persistence of poverty and increases in extreme poverty in large cities in low- and middle-income countries remain cause for concern.

The impact of urbanization on the health of citizens in developing countries has received increasing attention recently. This book addresses the problems in an integrated way, looking in detail at both the problems themselves and the action and research necessary to alleviate them. It includes contributions from leading practitioners and advisors to many of the main international agencies and presents the latest thinking of those institutions. It also presents recent information on research findings, the management and financing of urban health services and trends in urban health policy. Case studies examine major initiatives in cities as diverse as Santiago, Dar es Salaam, Dhaka, Kampala and Bombay.

The strengths and abilities children develop from infancy through adolescence are crucial for their physical, emotional, and cognitive growth, which in turn help them to achieve success in school and to become responsible, economically self-sufficient, and healthy adults. Capable, responsible, and healthy adults are clearly the foundation of a well-functioning and prosperous society, yet America's future is not as secure as it could be because millions of American children live in families with incomes below the poverty line. A wealth of evidence suggests that a lack of adequate economic resources for families with children compromises these children's ability to grow and achieve adult success, hurting them and the broader society. A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty reviews the research on linkages between child poverty and child well-being, and analyzes the poverty-reducing effects of major assistance programs directed at children and families. This report also provides policy and program recommendations for reducing the number of children living in poverty in the United States by half within 10 years.

One in seven of the world’s population live in poverty in urban areas, and the vast majority of these live in the Global South – mostly in overcrowded informal settlements with inadequate water, sanitation, health care and schools provision. This book explains how and why the scale and depth of urban poverty is so frequently under-estimated by governments and international agencies worldwide. The authors also consider whether economic growth does in fact reduce poverty, exploring the paradox of successful economies that show little evidence of decreasing poverty. Many official figures on urban poverty, including those based on the US $1 per day poverty line, present a very misleading picture of urban poverty’s scale. These common errors in definition and measurement by governments and international agencies lead to poor understanding of urban poverty and inadequate policy provision. This is compounded by the lack of voice and influence that low income groups have in these official spheres. This book explores many different aspects of urban poverty including the associated health burden, inadequate food intake, inadequate incomes, assets and livelihood security, poor living and working conditions and the absence of any rule of law. Urban Poverty in the Global South: Scale and Nature fills the gap for a much needed systematic overview of the historical and contemporary state of urban poverty in the Global South. This comprehensive and detailed book is a unique resource for students and lecturers in development studies, urban development, development geography, social policy, urban planning and design, and poverty reduction.

What factors affect child welfare? How can policy improve child welfare? In developing countries, there has been relatively little empirical work on the analysis and measurement of child poverty. Further, poverty has many dimensions, including mortality, morbidity, hunger, illiteracy, lack of fixed housing and lack of resources, and cannot be assessed with a single measurement method. Based on original research in Africa and South America, and using a multidimensional poverty indicator approach, this book identifies the existence of inequalities in child welfare, analyzes their sources, and evaluates the impacts of policy responses to those inequalities. Topics considered include monetary poverty, asset poverty, nutrition, mortality, access to education and school attendance, child labor and access to health services. The book’s findings demonstrate that while current government programs offering financial assistance, supplementary food, and free or subsidized education and health care have a positive impact on child welfare, these outcomes can still improve, and proposes policy prescriptions towards this end. The book will be of use to poverty and policy researchers, professionals in international development, and graduate students interested in poverty and inequality.

Child poverty is a central and present part of global life, with hundreds of millions of children around the world enduring tremendous suffering and deprivation of their most basic needs. Despite its long history, research on poverty and development has only relatively recently examined the issue of child poverty as a distinct topic of concern. This book brings together theoretical, methodological and policy-relevant contributions by leading researchers on international child poverty. With a preface from Sir Richard Jolly, Former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, it examines how child poverty and well-being are now conceptualized, defined and measured, and presents regional and national level portraits of child poverty around the world, in rich, middle income and poor countries. The book's ultimate objective is to promote and influence policy, action and the research agenda to address one of the world's great ongoing tragedies: child poverty, marginalization and inequality.

This report provides a summary of the results from a major international research project, funded by UNICEF, on child rights and child poverty in the developing world.

Cancer is low or absent on the health agendas of low- and middle-income countries (LMCs) despite the fact that more people die from cancer in these countries than from AIDS and malaria combined. International health organizations, bilateral aid agencies, and major foundations—which are instrumental in setting health priorities—also have largely ignored cancer in these countries. This book identifies feasible, affordable steps for LMCs and their international partners to begin to reduce the cancer burden for current and future generations. Stemming the growth of cigarette smoking tops the list to prevent cancer and all the other major chronic diseases. Other priorities include infant vaccination against the hepatitis B virus to prevent liver cancers and vaccination to prevent cervical cancer. Developing and increasing capacity for cancer screening and treatment of highly curable cancers (including most childhood malignancies) can be accomplished using "resource-level appropriateness" as a guide. And there are ways to make inexpensive oral morphine available to ease the pain of the many who will still die from cancer.

Gloria Macassa is a Medical Doctor and Master in Public Health from the Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet.