The richness of urban health realities lost in measurement monocultures
Abstract
The question seems simple enough: how can a rapidly growing African city improve the health and care of its pregnant women and their babies? But ask this question while navigating the humid, traffic-congested streets of coastal Dar es Salaam with a population of 8.6 million, then ask it again in the copper-mining hub of Lubumbashi with 3.1 million inhabitants, some 1400 km inland, and you will discover there is no universal answer. Effective strategies in Tanzania’s commercial capital—with its port economy and informal settlements sprawling between planned neighbourhoods—will not simply translate to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s mining metropolis. Each city has its own health system shaped by unique demographic, geographical, sociopolitical, governance, infrastructural and cultural characteristics, demanding its own set of solutions.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Health disparities and outcomes
Urban Transport and Accessibility
Cultural Competency in Health Care
Publication details
- Journal / source
- BMJ Global Health
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- e023241–e023241
- Publication date
- 1 March 2026
- Language
- EN