March 31, 2016, World Health Organization -- New data on the health of city-dwellers in almost 100 countries show that as the world’s urban population continues to grow, health inequities - especially between the richest and poorest urban populations - are a persistent challenge, according to a report by WHO and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).
For example, only half of households in urban areas of 91 countries with comparable data have access to piped water, with the richest 20% of households being 2.7 times more likely to have access to piped water than the poorest 20%. In Africa, this ratio is closer to 17 times.
About 3.7 billion people live in cities today. A further 1 billion people will be added by 2030, with 90% of the growth being in low- and middle-income countries. This intensifies the need to realize the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of ensuring universal health coverage (UHC): that all people obtain the health services they need without suffering financial hardship when paying for them, by 2030.
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Health inequalities undermine progress
The report finds that in 79 low- and middle-income countries, children in the poorest one fifth of urban households are twice as likely on average to die before their fifth birthday compared with children in the richest fifth. In nearly 9 of 10 countries for which comparable data was available, the urban poor did not achieve the Millennium Development Goal target for reducing under-five mortality.
The report emphasizes the urgency of addressing health disparities and their determinants in cities as countries strive to achieve the SDGs and identifies innovative ways to achieve UHC that are emerging in such diverse cities as Guangzhou and Lagos, Lima and San Francisco, among many others.
“There is an urgent need to identify and reduce health inequities, particularly for the most vulnerable populations, such as the nearly 1 billion people living in urban slums or informal settlements today,” said Dr Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO Assistant-Director General for Health Systems and Innovation. “This report gives countries and cities practical tools to reduce health inequities and achieve the SDGs.”
While a number of urban areas have improved health coverage, the report finds that coverage for the poor still lags behind. Currently, at least 400 million women, men and children around the world are excluded from what is a basic human right: access to affordable health care. They have little or no access or to health services, and health insurance that is inadequate or non-existent. The report includes a new Urban UHC Dashboard-- an analysis of nine indicators for 94 countries-- which shows that vast inequalities in health service coverage persist, despite urban areas reporting higher coverage of services than their respective national average levels.
