What Makes Cities Healthy?

Ha, Wei; Yusuf, Shahid; Nabeshima, Kaoru

What Makes Cities Healthy?

Autores

Ha, Wei

Yusuf, Shahid

Nabeshima, Kaoru

Editor

World Bank, Washington, DC

Descripción

The benefits of good health to individuals and to society are strongly positive and improving the health of the poor is a key Millennium Development Goal. A typical health strategy advocated by some is increased public spending on health targeted to favor the poor and backed by foreign assistance, as well as by an international effort to perfect drugs and vaccines to ameliorate infectious diseases bedeviling the developing nations. But if the objective is better health outcomes at the least cost and a reduction in urban health inequity, the authors' research suggests that the four most potent policy interventions are: water and sanitation systems; urban land use and transport planning; effective primary care and health programs aimed at influencing diets and lifestyles; and education. The payoff from these four in terms of health outcomes dwarf the returns from new drugs and curative hospital-based medicine, although these certainly have their place in a modern urban health system. And the authors find that the resource requirements for successful health care policies are likely to depend on an acceleration of economic growth rates which increase household purchasing power and enlarge the pool of resources available to national and subnational governments to invest in health-related infrastructure and services. Thus, an acceleration of growth rates may be necessary to sustain a viable urban health strategy which is equitable and to ensure steady gains in health outcomes.

Palabras clave

ACCESS TO EDUCATION, AGE GROUPS, AIDS EPIDEMIC, ALLOCATIVE EFFICIENCY, BABY, CANCER, CAPITAL COSTS, CAPITAL EXPENDITURE, CASUAL EMPLOYMENT, CHILD MORTALITY, CHRONIC CONDITIONS, CIVIL WAR, CLEAN WATER, COMMUNICABLE DISEASES, CRIME, DEATHS, DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION, DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, DEWORMING, DIET, DIETS, DISABILITIES, DISEASE CONTROL, DRUG ABUSE, DRUGS, EARLY CHILDHOOD, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, ECONOMIC GROWTH, ECONOMIC OUTCOMES, ECONOMIC POLICIES, ECONOMIC STATUS, EDUCATION, EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT, ELDERLY, EXPENDITURES, FAMILY SIZE, FEMALE HEADED HOUSEHOLDS, FERTILITY, FERTILITY RATE, FOLIC ACID, HEALTH, HEALTH CARE, HEALTH CARE POLICIES, HEALTH CONDITIONS, HEALTH INDICATORS, HEALTH INEQUITIES, HEALTH OUTCOMES, HEALTH PROBLEMS, HEALTH PROGRAMS, HEALTH SECTOR, HEALTH SERVICES, HEALTH STATUS, HEALTH SYSTEM, HEALTH SYSTEMS, HEALTHY CITIES, HIV, HOSPITAL, HOUSEHOLD INCOME, HOUSEHOLDS, HOUSING CONDITIONS, HOUSING UNITS, HUMAN CAPITAL, HUMAN LIFE, ILL-HEALTH, ILLITERACY, IMPACT ON HEALTH, IMPROVEMENTS IN MORTALITY, INCOME COUNTRIES, INCOME GROUPS, INCOME GROWTH, INCOME INEQUALITY, INDIVIDUAL HEALTH, INDOOR AIR POLLUTION, INEQUITIES, INFANT, INFANT HEALTH, INFANT HEALTH CARE, INFANT MORTALITY, INFECTIOUS DISEASES, INHABITANTS, INHERITANCE, INTERVENTION, INVESTMENT IN CHILDREN, INVESTMENT IN EDUCATION, IRON, LABOR FORCE, LABOR MARKET, LAND USE POLICIES, LEADING CAUSES, LIFE EXPECTANCIES, LIFE EXPECTANCY, LIFESTYLES, LIVING CONDITIONS, LIVING STANDARDS, LOW INCOME, LOWER FERTILITY, MALARIA, MATERNAL HEALTH, MEASLES, MEDICARE, MIGRANTS, MIGRATION, MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOAL, MORALITY, MORBIDITY, MORTALITY, NATIONAL GOVERNMENTS, NUTRITION, OCCUPATIONS, OLD AGE, ORAL REHYDRATION THERAPY, OVERCROWDING, PERSONAL HYGIENE, POLICY RESEARCH, POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER, POLLUTION, POPULATION GROWTH, POPULATION GROWTH RATE, POPULATION SIZE, PRIMARY CARE, PROBABILITY, PROGRESS, PUBLIC HEALTH, PUBLIC SERVICES, PUBLIC SPENDING, PURCHASING POWER, RATE OF GROWTH, RESOURCE ALLOCATION, RESOURCE REQUIREMENTS, RURAL AREAS, SAFE DRINKING WATER, SAFE WATER, SANITATION, SCARCE RESOURCES, SEX, SIBLINGS, SLUM DWELLERS, SOCIAL CAPITAL, SOCIAL SERVICES, URBAN AREAS, URBAN CENTERS, URBAN COMMUNITIES, URBAN HOUSING, URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE, URBAN LAND, URBAN POPULATION, URBAN POPULATIONS, URBAN POVERTY, URBAN SLUMS, URBANIZATION, VACCINATION, VACCINES, VIOLENCE, WASTE, WASTE DISPOSAL, WORKERS, WORKFORCE, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION