Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Human biological approaches to the study of Third World urbanism
- 2 Social and cultural influences in the risk of cardiovascular disease in urban Brazil
- 3 The urban disadvantage in the developing world and the physical and mental growth of children
- 4 Differences in endocrine status associated with urban-rural patterns of growth and maturation in Bundi (Gende-speaking) adolescents of Papua New Guinea
- 5 Nutritionally vulnerable households in the urban slum economy: a case study from Khulna, Bangladesh
- 6 Urban-rural differences in growth and diarrhoeal morbidity of Filipino infants
- 7 Child health and growth in urban South Africa
- 8 From countryside to town in Morocco: ecology, culture and public health
- 9 Urban-rural population research: a town like Alice
- 10 Selection for rural-to-urban migrants in Guatemala
- 11 Health and nutrition in Mixtec Indians: factors influencing the decision to migrate to urban centres
- 12 Urban health and ecology in Bunia, N.E. Zaire, with special reference to the physical development of children
- 13 Food for thought: meeting a basic need for low-income urban residents
- 14 Immunological parameters in northeast Arnhem Land Aborigines: consequences of changing settlement patterns and lifestyles
- 15 Amerindians and the price of modernisation
- 16 Sex ratio determinants in Indian populations: studies at national, state and district levels
- 17 Polarisation and depolarisation in Africa
- 18 Urbanisation in the Third World: health policy implications
- Index
7 - Child health and growth in urban South Africa
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Human biological approaches to the study of Third World urbanism
- 2 Social and cultural influences in the risk of cardiovascular disease in urban Brazil
- 3 The urban disadvantage in the developing world and the physical and mental growth of children
- 4 Differences in endocrine status associated with urban-rural patterns of growth and maturation in Bundi (Gende-speaking) adolescents of Papua New Guinea
- 5 Nutritionally vulnerable households in the urban slum economy: a case study from Khulna, Bangladesh
- 6 Urban-rural differences in growth and diarrhoeal morbidity of Filipino infants
- 7 Child health and growth in urban South Africa
- 8 From countryside to town in Morocco: ecology, culture and public health
- 9 Urban-rural population research: a town like Alice
- 10 Selection for rural-to-urban migrants in Guatemala
- 11 Health and nutrition in Mixtec Indians: factors influencing the decision to migrate to urban centres
- 12 Urban health and ecology in Bunia, N.E. Zaire, with special reference to the physical development of children
- 13 Food for thought: meeting a basic need for low-income urban residents
- 14 Immunological parameters in northeast Arnhem Land Aborigines: consequences of changing settlement patterns and lifestyles
- 15 Amerindians and the price of modernisation
- 16 Sex ratio determinants in Indian populations: studies at national, state and district levels
- 17 Polarisation and depolarisation in Africa
- 18 Urbanisation in the Third World: health policy implications
- Index
Summary
The urban populations of the developing world are increasing at an unprecedented rate. In South Africa the black population has an urbanisation rate of 3.5%; this, coupled to a population growth rate of almost 3%, will lead to an increase in the urban black population from 6.5 million in 1985 to over 20 million by the year 2000. Such an urbanisation rate has major implications for a variety of support services, not the least of which is health care. This paper reviews current knowledge of the health status and growth of South African black children. Health status is examined through the broad measures of infant mortality rates, nutritional status, notifiable diseases, environmental factors and psychological measures of wellbeing. Physical growth is examined through a comparison of the latest studies describing the growth patterns of urban and rural children. Urban children of good socioeconomic status have growth patterns that are similar to those of the NCHS norms and significantly better than those of average urban children. Rural children from studies of farm labourers and subsistence farmers display significant differences in mean weights and body fat, but not height, and have superior growth to average urban children. The rationale, methods and pilot studies used in a new birth cohort study of children born in Johannesburg and Soweto are reviewed to highlight the methodological problems of urbanisation studies in developing countries.
Introduction
The urban environment of the Third World is increasing in size at an unprecedented rate.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Urban Ecology and Health in the Third World , pp. 99 - 114Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1993