Home

    About

    Open Access Repository

    SearchBrowse by ThemeBrowse by AuthorBrowse by TypeMost Popular Titles

    Other Resources

    Curators

    Events

    Contributing Think Tanks

    Networks

    Using Content

    FAQs

    Terms of Use

    13,800+ curated items from top Think Tanks.
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Home

    About

    Open Access Repository

    SearchBrowse by ThemeBrowse by AuthorBrowse by TypeMost Popular Titles

    Other Resources

    Curators

    Events

    Contributing Think Tanks

    Networks

    Using Content

    FAQs

    Terms of Use

    Burden of Disease on the Urban Poor: A Study of Morbidity and Utilisation of Healthcare among Slum Dwellers in Dhaka City

    Mannan, M. A. | May 2018
    Abstract
    Bangladesh is urbanising rapidly, around one-third of the country’s population comprising 50 million people live in urban areas. Accompanying this rapid pace of urbanisation, there has been a faster growth in the population residing in slums and squatters. Slums and squatters are characterised by crowded living conditions, unhygienic surroundings and lack of basic amenities such as garbage disposal facilities, water and sanitation. Slum residents are especially vulnerable to health risks. The present study is an attempt to explore morbidity patterns and health-seeking behaviour of the urban poor living in slums of Dhaka city. An attempt has also been made to estimate self-reported morbidity, the proportion of individuals seeking care given the reported morbidity, determinants of morbidity and the utilisation of professional care during sickness. The study is based on a household survey conducted in slum and non-slum locations of Dhaka city. A sample of 800 households living in the slum clusters, and another 400 households from non-slum areas were selected for the present study. The findings show that within urban areas, the slum dwellers suffered higher morbidity than non-slum dwellers in each age group, income group and education group. Not only the slum dwellers are likely to suffer from higher morbidity, they are also less likely to receive professional care during sickness. Among the slum households, about a tenth (9.2 percent) of the illnesses did not receive any treatment from any source whatsoever. Of those who received some kind of care, only about a fourth (23.8 percent) consulted qualified doctors, while the largest proportion-three out of every five sick people (61.3 percent) received lay care provided by drug sellers/ pharmacy owners/ traditional healers, herbalists, unqualified allopath/ roadside ‘quacks’, among others, without any professional training, while another 14 percent managed with self-care. But the pattern of health seeking behaviour was quite different in the case of the non-slum households. About three-fourths of the illnesses (72.4 percent) in the non-slum area received treatment from qualified physicians, while a fifth of the illnesses (20 percent) received lay care, and another 7.5 percent managed their illnesses at home (through self-treatment/self-care). The findings imply that patients from non-slum area were 3.06 times more likely to resort to lay care compared to non-slum households, while patients from non-slum area were 3.04 times more likely to resort to professional care. Thus, an overall shift in health-seeking behaviour of the study population was observed for households in non-slum area. Slum residence reduced the odds of seeking any professional care and increased the odds of choosing self-care/lay care. Nutrition and health care is a constant worry for the slum people. And for the vast majority of slum dwellers who live in poverty, attaining the purchasing power to actually buy the food items and consult qualified doctors in case of illness is a far off dream.
    Citation
    Mannan, M. A.. 2018. Burden of Disease on the Urban Poor: A Study of Morbidity and Utilisation of Healthcare among Slum Dwellers in Dhaka City. © Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies. http://hdl.handle.net/11540/9487.
    Keywords
    World Health Organization
    Quality of Health Care
    Partnerships in Health Reform
    Health
    Health Standards
    Health Care Cost Control
    Health Care Access
    Health Risk
    Health Issues
    Environmental Health Hazards
    Education, Health and Social Protection
    Urbanization
    Urban Services
    Urban Planning
    Urban Conditions
    Urban Population
    Traditional Medicine
    Medical Statistics
    Drug Policy
    Preventive Medicine
    Medical Economics
    Disease Control
    Sanitation
    Health Hazards
    Urban Plans
    Urbanism
    Diseases
    Economic Development
    Health status indicators
    Medical and health care industry
    Vaccination
    Delivery of medical care
    Sanitation services
    Sanitary engineering
    Sanitation systems
    Illness
    Refuse and refuse disposal
    Urban renewal
    Show allCollapse
    Citable URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/11540/9487
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Thumbnail
    REF_17_1_Full.pdf (3.017Mb)
    Author
    Mannan, M. A.
    Theme
    Health
    Urban
    Labor Migration
     
    Copyright 2016-2021 Asian Development Bank Institute, except as explicitly marked otherwise
    Copyright 2016-2021 Asian Development Bank Institute, except as explicitly marked otherwise