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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
arts and humanities
Urbanisation and health: Methodological difficulties in undertaking epidemiological research in developing countries
Social Science and Medicine, Volume 31, No. 4, Year 1990
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Description
Rapid urbanisation has historically resulted in complex societal changes which have had both beneficial and adverse effects on the health of communities. Recently, it has been recognised that the urban poor in developing countries are at greatest risk for several adverse health effects. The epidemiologist has a key role to play in planning to meet current and future health needs of urban communities. Epidemiological research needs to focus on understanding the relationship between the changes that occur with urbanisation and their impact on health, in order to identify those at greatest risk, to identify the important risk factors that are amenable to intervention, and to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions aimed at improving the health of urban communities. This paper addresses several methodological difficulties in conducting epidemiological research on urbanisation and health in developing countries, with particular reference to Southern Africa. These relate to the definition of urban areas and residence thereof, the comparability across areas of exposure and outcome information, the identification of intra-urban variability, selection bias in cross-sectional studies, associating outcomes with specific urban exposures in analytic studies, and determining appropriate interventions and means of evaluation. Ways of overcoming these difficulties are suggested. Epidemiologists need to address these issues in order to make a valuable contribution to the improvement of health in urban communities. © 1990.
Authors & Co-Authors
Yach, Derek
South Africa, Tygerberg
South African Medical Research Council
South Africa, Cape Town
Faculty of Health Sciences
Mathews, Catherine
South Africa, Tygerberg
South African Medical Research Council
Buch, Éric
South Africa, Tygerberg
South African Medical Research Council
South Africa, Johannesburg
School of Clinical Medicine
Statistics
Citations: 70
Authors: 3
Affiliations: 3
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1016/0277-9536(90)90047-V
ISSN:
02779536
Study Design
Randomised Control Trial
Cross Sectional Study