Annex 6. Urbanization and health inequality

Rapid and poorly planned urbanization can have negative health implications that disproportionately impact poor people, migrants or otherwise disadvantaged people. Some of the most pressing health concerns in urban areas include noncommunicable diseases, injuries, interpersonal violence and infectious diseases (1). Addressing and reducing health inequities in urban settings is key to creating healthy cities for everyone. As in rural areas, urban dwellers have a wide diversity of experiences, and health inequalities in these areas may be concealed by overall averages. Disaggregation of data on urban populations is needed to better understand the nuanced patterns of inequality in these settings (2).

Urban informal settlements, characterized by a lack of basic services, poor housing conditions, overcrowding and insecure tenure, remain a priority across global policy and development initiatives (3), including the United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development. Sustainable Development Goal 11 aims to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. The associated targets and their indicators specify monitoring requirements, emphasizing the importance of disaggregation by age, disability status and sex, as applicable (4).

Further resources on urbanization and health inequality are available through the WHO resource repository Local Action for Health (5).

References

1. Urban health. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2021 (https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/urban-health, accessed 23 September 2024).

2. Global report on urban health: equitable healthier cities for sustainable development. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2016 (https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/204715, accessed 23 September 2024).

3. Khan SS, Te Lintelo D, Macgregor H. Framing “slums”: global policy discourses and urban inequalities. Environ Urban. 2023;35(1):74–90. doi:10.1177/09562478221150210.

4. SDG indicator metadata. New York: United Nations Statistics Division; 2021 (https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/files/Metadata-11-01-01.pdf, accessed 23 September 2024).

5. Local action for health: a repository of WHO resources. Geneva: World Health Organization (https://urbanhealth-repository.who.int/, accessed 23 September 2024).