Case Studies of Infectious Disease Outbreaks in Cities: Emerging Factors and Policy Issues

Abstract

The increasing concern for deteriorating health situations in the major urban areas of the developing world today is belated. Signs of burgeoning urban populations caused by increasing rural–urban migration and natural increase among the already urbanized community were evident in the past decade and earlier. Recent regressing conditions in rural areas have caused individuals and families to move to cities faster than ever in the hope of a solution to their plight. This hope keeps the urban migrants in the degrading conditions that the city offers them and continues to attract others. There are many estimates of growth in cities around the world. Throughout the world, rapid increases in urban populations of up to 66 per cent and have been projected and as much as 100 per cent in tropical and sub-tropical countries. The main contribution to this increase comes from megalopolises in Latin America and South Asia. For example, New Delhi, Bombay and Calcutta in India fall within the sixteen fastest growing cities in the world. Their growth rates are 125, 88 and 75 per cent respectively to the end of 1999.