COVID-19 &amp; informal settlements: is ‘Stay Home’ safe?

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Abstract

The disproportional burden of coronavirus (COVID-19) and vulnerability to containment measures in informal settlements have been recognised; however, the role of poor housing conditions in propagating these remains neglected. Poor housing conditions makes it difficult to effectively implement social distancing measures. With increased time spent in cramped, dark and uncomfortable indoor environments, water and sanitation outside the home, and no outdoor space, higher exposure to existing health hazards and high levels of stress, with women and children being most vulnerable, are anticipated. Through this commentary paper, we reflect on these interconnections and recommend immediate measures and the long-term need for adequate housing for health and well-being.

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Most cited references 16

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An increasing risk of family violence during the Covid-19 pandemic: Strengthening community collaborations to save lives

Andrew Campbell (2020)

Though necessary to slow the spread of the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19), actions such as social-distancing, sheltering in-place, restricted travel, and closures of key community foundations are likely to dramatically increase the risk for family violence around the globe. In fact many countries are already indicating a dramatic increase in reported cases of domestic violence. While no clear precedent for the current crisis exists in academic literature, exploring the impact of natural disasters on family violence reports may provide important insight for family violence victim-serving professionals. Improving collaborations between human welfare and animal welfare agencies, expanding community partnerships, and informing the public of the great importance of reporting any concerns of abuse are all critical at this time.

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Slum Health: Arresting COVID-19 and Improving Well-Being in Urban Informal Settlements

Jason Corburn, David Vlahov, Blessing Mberu … (2020)

The informal settlements of the Global South are the least prepared for the pandemic of COVID-19 since basic needs such as water, toilets, sewers, drainage, waste collection, and secure and adequate housing are already in short supply or non-existent. Further, space constraints, violence, and overcrowding in slums make physical distancing and self-quarantine impractical, and the rapid spread of an infection highly likely. Residents of informal settlements are also economically vulnerable during any COVID-19 responses. Any responses to COVID-19 that do not recognize these realities will further jeopardize the survival of large segments of the urban population globally. Most top-down strategies to arrest an infectious disease will likely ignore the often-robust social groups and knowledge that already exist in many slums. Here, we offer a set of practice and policy suggestions that aim to (1) dampen the spread of COVID-19 based on the latest available science, (2) improve the likelihood of medical care for the urban poor whether or not they get infected, and (3) provide economic, social, and physical improvements and protections to the urban poor, including migrants, slum communities, and their residents, that can improve their long-term well-being. Immediate measures to protect residents of urban informal settlements, the homeless, those living in precarious settlements, and the entire population from COVID-19 include the following: (1) institute informal settlements/slum emergency planning committees in every urban informal settlement; (2) apply an immediate moratorium on evictions; (3) provide an immediate guarantee of payments to the poor; (4) immediately train and deploy community health workers; (5) immediately meet Sphere Humanitarian standards for water, sanitation, and hygiene; (6) provide immediate food assistance; (7) develop and implement a solid waste collection strategy; and (8) implement immediately a plan for mobility and health care. Lessons have been learned from earlier pandemics such as HIV and epidemics such as Ebola. They can be applied here. At the same time, the opportunity exists for public health, public administration, international aid, NGOs, and community groups to innovate beyond disaster response and move toward long-term plans.

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The history, geography, and sociology of slums and the health problems of people who live in slums

Alex Ezeh, Oyinlola Oyebode, David Satterthwaite … (2017)

Massive slums have become major features of cities in many low-income and middle-income countries. Here, in the first in a Series of two papers, we discuss why slums are unhealthy places with especially high risks of infection and injury. We show that children are especially vulnerable, and that the combination of malnutrition and recurrent diarrhoea leads to stunted growth and longer-term effects on cognitive development. We find that the scientific literature on slum health is underdeveloped in comparison to urban health, and poverty and health. This shortcoming is important because health is affected by factors arising from the shared physical and social environment, which have effects beyond those of poverty alone. In the second paper we will consider what can be done to improve health and make recommendations for the development of slum health as a field of study.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): UCL Open Environ

Journal ID (publisher-id): UCLOE

Title: UCL Open Environment

Abbreviated Title: UCL Open Environ

Publisher: UCL Press (UK )

ISSN (Electronic): 2632-0886

Publication date (Electronic, pub): 29 July 2022

Publication date (Electronic, collection): 2022

Volume: 4

Electronic Location Identifier: e038

Affiliations

[1 ]UCL Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering, Bartlett School for Energy, Environment and Resources, University College London, London, UK

[2 ]Population, Policy and Practice, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, UK

[3 ]Whittington Health NHS Trust, London, UK

[4 ]Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, USA

[5 ]Engineering for International Development Centre, London, UK

[6 ]Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, University College London, London, UK

[7 ]Aceso Global Health Consultants Ltd, 3 Abbey Terrace, London SE2 9EY, UK

Author notes

*Corresponding author: E-mail: Emily.Nix@ 123456liverpool.ac.uk

Author information

Emily Nix https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3331-2046

Article

DOI: 10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000038

PMC ID: 10208323

PubMed ID: 37228455

SO-VID: 583b1dd6-4c02-45e3-ba2d-5099cac73158

License:

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY) 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.