EFFECTS OF URBANIZATION
ON
HEALTH & DISEASE
Dr Vijay B. Lambole
Associate Professor, SNLPCP, Umrakh.
URBAN : The word ‘urbane’ means fashionable living,
wide acquaintance with things & people and
political manner of speech.
Urban area : Area with a high density of population. In
the context of India , it is defined as
• All places with a municipality, corporation,
cantonment board or notified town areacommittee,
etc. (known as Statutory Town)
• All other places which satisfied the following criteria
(known as Census Town):
– A minimum population of 5,000;
– At least 75 per cent of the male main workers engaged in
non-agricultural pursuits; and
– A density of population of at least 400 per sq. km.
Number of Urban Units – India
• Towns:
Census2001 5,161
Census2011 7,935 Increase: 2,774
• Statutory Towns:
Census2001 3,799
Census2011 4,041 Increase: 242
• Census Towns:
Census2001 1,362
Census2011 3,894 Increase: 2,532
Urbanization:
Urbanization involves a physical change in
which increasing proportions of populations
live in urban settings.
The movement of people to cities is one of
the dominant characteristics of population
change of 21st centuries.
Growing urbanization is a recent phenomenon in
developing countries.
➢ In India, the level of urbanization increased from
27.81% in 2001 Census to 31.16% in 2011 Census.
➢ The urban population in India is 377.1 million in
2011, with increase of 91 million from 2001 census.
➢ Urbanization a constant growing phenomenon of
increasing populations living in cities found to be
more in low-income countries.
Increase in urban population is determined by three
factors:
1.Natural increase (through birth).
2. Rapid migration from rural to urban, for better
employment opportunities, attraction of better
living & availability of social services like education,
health, transport entertainment etc.
3. Inclusion of new areas under ‘Urban’
Environmental health impacts associated
with rapid urbanization :
The effect on health of urbanization is two edged.
On the one hand, there are the benefits of ready
access to healthcare, sanitation,& secure nutrition
whilst on the other urban health hazards & risks
are substandard housing, over crowding, air
pollution, insufficient or contaminated drinking
water, inadequate sanitation, solid waste disposal
services, vector borne diseases, industrial waste,
increased motor vehicle traffic, stress associated
with poverty & unemployment etc.
The factors which influence the health status lieboth
within the individual itself & externally.
1.Substandard housing & over crowding :
Due to low Socio-economic Status the housing cond. is very
poor.
Over crowing refers where more people are living within a
single dwelling where movement is restricted,privacy
secluded, hygiene impossible,rest & sleep difficult.
In general over crowding will lead to rapid spread of
infectious diseases especially resp. infections such as
T.B, influenza, Diphtheriaetc.
2.Inadequate sewage & garbage disposal: Lead to fly
nuisance.
3. Contaminated water : water borne diseases
are more common like Diarrhoea, typhoid,
Cholera etc.
4. Vector borne diseases :This is found to be more
common in poor people living in urban area like
malaria, filaria, Plague, Dengue, Scabies etc.
5. Air pollution :1.3 billion urban residents world
wide are exposed to air pollution level above
recommended limit. The effects are immediate&
delayed.
a. Immediate effects : Acute bronchitis.
b. Delayed effects : Chr. Bronchitis, lung cancer,
bronchial asthma, Emphysema& resp.
allergy.
6. Motor vehicle accidents:
➢ Are more common among all fatal accidents
found in urban areas.
➢ Industrial accidents are also occur with
increasing frequency because of untrained
workers from the urban setup.
7. Psycho-somatic disorders:
➢Due to poverty & unemployment stress
associated disorders are more common
among the urban people residing in shanty
towns.
➢Duodenal ulcer, Bronchial asthma,
Hypertension, coronary heart disease, mental
disorders, Social deviant behavior (Suicide,
crime, violence & drug abuse).
Global urbanization & impact on health :
➢ Rapid urban & industrial growth is an important
parallel socio demographic phenomenon. Nearly
half of the world’s population lives in urban
settlements.
➢ For better employment, education, healthcare
the more and more people are attracting towards
urban.
➢ However rapid & unplanned urban growth is
often associated with poverty, environmental
degradation & population demands that outstrips
service capacity.
➢ In 1950, less than 30% of the world’s population
lived in cities. This number grew to 47% in the
year 2000 (2.8 billion people), and it is expected
to grow to 60% by the year 2025.
➢ The no. of people living in slums & shanty towns
represents about 1/3 of people living in urban
areas.
➢ In less developed countries urbanization also
opens the door to ‘western diseases’ likeHTN,
CHD, obesity, diabetes, & asthma.
There are certain schemes introduced for urban
development
➢ National Urban Health Mission(NUHM)
➢ AMRUT – Atal mission for rejuvenation and urban
transformation
➢ JawaharlalNehru National Urban Renewal mission
➢ North Eastern region urban development Programme
➢ Smart Cities Mission