Page 64 - The World About Us

Kibera, Kenya
1.1.1
2.2.5

What is life like for those living in the world’s slums?

Migrants o en arrive from the concrete blocks replace the previously flimsy fig.173 Percentage of the
countryside or other ci es with li le or no walls. With buildings built so close together, urban popula on living in
money. For these new arrivals their only the spread of fires is an ever-present danger.
op on may be to sleep rough on the streets, Landslides or flooding is a common hazard slums, 2016.
and aspire to ren ng a room in a local slum. for slum dwellers, whose houses are built on South Sudan 96
Once new arrivals have some money saved, steep hillsides or along river banks.
they may try and build their own home in Around one in every eight people on the Central African Republic 93
the slums. Building materials are scavenged planet live in slums. They are a feature of our Sudan 92
from the local dumps or bought from other ci es and are not going to disappear soon. Chad 88
scavengers and slum dwellers.
The may contain desperate people but they Sao Tome and Principe 87
Temporary shelters of wooden frames are also home to millions of ingenious,
and polythene shee ng are common. Over industrious and ambi ous people whose sole Guinea-Bissau 82
me these may be 'modernised' by adding desire is a be er life for themselves and their Mozambique 80
corrugated iron roofs and walls. children. However, for many city authori es, Mauritania 80
Over many years slums may become the slums are an embarrassment: the slum Madagascar 77
permanent se lements as bricks and dwellers a problem to be ignored or evicted.
Sierra Leone 76
Congo, Dem. Rep. 75
Hai 74
Ethiopia 74
Somalia 74
Niger 70
Comoros 70
Malawi 67
Equatorial Guinea 66
Burkina Faso 66
Liberia 66

Health and disease
With poor sanita on, and
people living in cramped,
overcrowded condi ons,
disease can spread rapidly.
Diarrhoea and dysentery are
common, and outbreaks of
deadly cholera are not unheard
fig.174 Playing next to an open sewer in Kibera, on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya.
of. With many members of one
Clean water and sanitation entrepreneurs may install informal pipe or more families living in a
networks linked to local boreholes. With single room or two, respiratory
With no planning in the slums there are
few taps, and a large popula on, people diseases which are spread by
no sewers. Human excrement is disposed of
may have to spend hours queuing to collect coughs, such as colds, influenza
wherever possible, o en in local streams
their meagre supply of water in plas c jerry and tuberculosis, are also
which quickly become open sewers. These
cans or old oil drums. commonplace.
then become breeding grounds for rats and
disease. fig.175 Queuing for water, Soweto, South Africa. In areas of sub-Saharan
Africa, where HIV is common,
Many slums do not have access to piped
water. With streams polluted with raw the everyday illnesses of slum
living can become a ma er of
sewage, people must rely on very expensive
life and death for people living
bo led water.
with a weakened immune
City authori es, chari es or aid system. Cheap medicinal drugs
organisa ons may install standpipes to are o en counterfeit and may
distribute or sell clean water. Local cause more harm than good to
the people who buy them.
64

The majority of the world’s population now live in urban areas.