Poor housing, good health: a comparison of formal and informal housing in Johannesburg, South Africa

International Journal of Public Health - Tập 56 - Trang 625-633 - 2011
Thea de Wet1, Sophie Plagerson2, Trudy Harpham3, Angela Mathee4
1Department of Anthropology and Development Studies, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
2Centre for Social Development in Africa, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
3London South Bank University, London, UK
4Environment and Health Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Johannesburg, South Africa

Tóm tắt

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between housing, demographic, socio-economic, social factors and health, in poor urban communities in Johannesburg, South Africa. Data were drawn from a survey of 1,427 households in Johannesburg. The outcome health variable was a composite measure of chronic ill-health. Housing variables included type of housing, tenure and access to services. Multivariate regression analysis assessed the relationship between housing and health, after adjustment for demographic, socio-economic and social factors. The prevalence of chronic health problems was 25.1% (95% CI 22.8–27.6%). Factors independently associated with the risk of chronic ill-health among household heads included older age (OR, 3.06 [2.37–3.95]), female gender (OR, 2.83 [2.01–3.97]), long-term residence (OR, 2.01 [1.10–3.67]), unemployment (OR, 0.49 [0.36–0.67]), and living in formal housing (OR, 0.66 [0.45–0.98]). The health of the household heads residing in informal housing was significantly better than in formal housing. Explanations for this counter-intuitive finding include the fact that the informal housing dwellers were younger and recent migrants (the ‘healthy migrant’ phenomenon). Policy implications of the results are identified.

Tài liệu tham khảo

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