Fat or thin, people in poor megacities are beset by disease. Here’s why
Speaking of Haiti’s burden of disease, as the medical jargon goes, the Journal of Urban Health offers an interesting take on the health implications of being poor and living in a city in the developing world. (Click here to read an abstract).
Going by that reasoning the life and ill-health of Port au Prince is practically a pre-existing condition because:
– it too is a victim of the urban sprawl, which makes access to care more difficult
– it has more motor vehicles than it can handle and inadequate infrastructure, which makes air pollution and traffic accidents more common
– impoverished urban populations routinely show a propensity toward undernourishment, and its obverse, obesity, is emerging as a major risk
– the increase in slums makes violence and homicide a more important burden of health
– large hazards are created by fire-prone, insubstantial dwellings.