title: Improving the health and welfare of people who live in slums.
abstract: In the first paper in this Series we assessed theoretical and empirical evidence and concluded that the health of people living in slums is a function not only of poverty but of intimately shared physical and social environments. In this paper we extend the theory of so-called neighbourhood effects. Slums offer high returns on investment because beneficial effects are shared across many people in densely populated neighbourhoods. Neighbourhood effects also help explain how and why the benefits of interventions vary between slum and non-slum spaces and between slums. We build on this spatial concept of slums to argue that, in all low-income and-middle-income countries, census tracts should henceforth be designated slum or non-slum both to inform local policy and as the basis for research surveys that build on censuses. We argue that slum health should be promoted as a topic of enquiry alongside poverty and health.
authors.affiliation: Warwick Centre for Applied Health Research and Delivery, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK. Electronic address: r.j.lilford@warwick.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Lilford
authors.affiliation: Warwick Centre for Applied Health Research and Delivery, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.
authors.forename: Oyinlola
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Oyebode
authors.affiliation: International Institute for Environment and Development, London, UK.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Satterthwaite
authors.affiliation: Warwick Centre for Applied Health Research and Delivery, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Melendez-Torres
authors.affiliation: Warwick Centre for Applied Health Research and Delivery, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.
authors.forename: Yen-Fu
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: African Population and Health Research Centre, Manga Cl, Nairobi, Kenya.
authors.forename: Blessing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mberu
authors.affiliation: Warwick Centre for Applied Health Research and Delivery, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.
authors.forename: Samuel I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Watson
authors.affiliation: Warwick Centre for Applied Health Research and Delivery, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.
authors.forename: Jo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sartori
authors.affiliation: Global Urban Observatory, Research and Capacity Development Branch, United Nations Human Settlements Programme, Nairobi, Kenya.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ndugwa
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Waleska
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Caiaffa
authors.affiliation: African Population and Health Research Centre, Manga Cl, Nairobi, Kenya.
authors.forename: Tilahun
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Haregu
authors.affiliation: United Nations University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Capon
authors.affiliation: Oxford Policy Management, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Ruhi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Saith
authors.affiliation: African Population and Health Research Centre, Manga Cl, Nairobi, Kenya; School of Public Health, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ezeh
mesh_terms: D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D011204:Poverty Areas; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors