Slum Health - by Jason Corburn & Lee Riley (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Urban slum dwellers--especially in emerging-economy cities--are often poor, live in squalor, and suffer unnecessarily from disease, disability, premature death, and poor life expectancy. Yet living in a city can and should be healthy. Slum Health highlights why and how slums can be unhealthy, reveals that not all slums are equal in terms of the hazards and health issues faced by residents, and suggests how slum dwellers, scientists, and social movements can come together to make slum life safer, more just, and healthier. Editors Jason Corburn and Lee Riley argue that both new biologic and "street" science--or valuing professional and lay knowledge--are crucial for improving the well-being of the millions of urban poor living in slums."--Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

Urban slum dwellers--especially in emerging-economy countries--are often poor, live in squalor, and suffer unnecessarily from disease, disability, premature death, and reduced life expectancy. Yet living in a city can and should be healthy. Slum Health exposes how and why slums can be unhealthy; reveals that not all slums are equal in terms of the hazards and health issues faced by residents; and suggests how slum dwellers, scientists, and social movements can come together to make slum life safer, more just, and healthier. Editors Jason Corburn and Lee Riley argue that valuing both new biologic and "street" science--professional and lay knowledge--is crucial for improving the well-being of the millions of urban poor living in slums.

From the Back Cover

"Slum Health brings a breath of hope to equip managers and community in constant struggle to reduce the inequities in health and living conditions."--Waleska Teixeira Caiaffa, MD, MPH, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health, Director of Belo Horizonte Observatory for Urban Health, Federal University of Minas Gerais

"Jason Corburn and Lee Riley have excellently refocused our attention on an important but neglected international issue. Using an in-depth case-study approach, their work is global in scope and emphasizes community-based responses and social justice."--Vinit Mukhija, author of Squatters as Developers? Slum Redevelopment in Mumbai

Review Quotes

"Refreshing and new, ... the volume offers an extremely helpful opening to a realm of medical science literature relating to informal settlements."-- "Latin America Research Review"

"Ultimately, the editors' conviction in convening Slum Health: From the Cell to the Street is resoundingly clear: Scholars of all stripes have a responsibility "to recognize the human right of the urban poor to lead a healthy life and to offer some strategies toward this goal". This volume moves us forward on both counts."-- "Medical Anthropology Quarterly"

About the Author

Jason Corburn is Associate Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, jointly appointed in the Department of City and Regional Planning and the School of Public Health, and Director of the Center for Global Healthy Cities.

Lee Riley is Professor of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases and Chair of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at the School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley.