The Interrelation of Urban Health Indicators and COVID-19: A Study of Passo Fundo/RS

‘Healthy Cities’ is a global movement in urban health that grew from a Canadian initiative in the mid-1980s to a World Health Organization programme. Healthy Cities are characterized by a strong commitment to values such as sustainability, solidarity, justice, and participation embedded in a vision that embraces ecological and community perspectives. The movement comes in different manifestations around the world; this chapter focuses mostly on the European evidence base and discusses efforts that have been made over three decades to establish validated sets of indicators to measure and assess urban health and Healthy Cities. True to the nature of the movement, indicators are both socioecological and biomedical, qualitative, and quantitative. This presents challenges to validity and applicability across urban environments.

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Urban Health Indicators: The Role of Data Disparities

Encyclopedia of Environmental Health ◽

10.1016/b978-0-12-409548-9.11240-0 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 283-285

Author(s):

Richard Rothenberg ◽

Christine Stauber ◽

Dajun Dai ◽

Johannes Nijman

Keyword(s):

Urban Health ◽

Health Indicators

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Disaggregating health inequalities within Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2002-2010, by applying an urban health inequality index

Cadernos de Saúde Pública ◽

10.1590/0102-311x00081214 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 31 (suppl 1) ◽

pp. 107-119 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Martin Bortz ◽

Megumi Kano ◽

Heribert Ramroth ◽

Christovam Barcellos ◽

Scott R. Weaver ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Inequalities ◽

Urban Health ◽

Low Income ◽

Rio De Janeiro ◽

Health Indicators ◽

Spatial Inequality ◽

Mortality Data ◽

Inequality Index ◽

Low Education ◽

Ward Level

Abstract An urban health index (UHI) was used to quantify health inequalities within Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the years 2002-2010. Eight main health indicators were generated at the ward level using mortality data. The indicators were combined to form the index. The distribution of the rank ordered UHI-values provides information on inequality among wards, using the ratio of the extremes and the gradient of the middle values. Over the decade the ratio of extremes in 2010 declined relative to 2002 (1.57 vs. 1.32) as did the slope of the middle values (0.23 vs. 0.16). A spatial division between the affluent south and the deprived north and east is still visible. The UHI correlated on an ecological ward-level with socioeconomic and urban environment indicators like square meter price of apartments (0.54, p < 0.01), low education of mother (-0.61, p < 0.01), low income (-0.62, p < 0.01) and proportion of black ethnicity (-0.55, p < 0.01). The results suggest that population health and equity have improved in Rio de Janeiro in the last decade though some familiar patterns of spatial inequality remain.

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Health Services Research

Urban Health ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190915858.003.0022 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 207-216

Author(s):

Michael K. Gusmano

Keyword(s):

Health Services Research ◽

Health Services ◽

Social Environment ◽

Urban Health ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Health Indicators ◽

Well Being ◽

Services Research ◽

Critical Part ◽

Curative Care

The physical and social environment clearly characterize cities and influence the health of their residents. Cities, however, also represent places where a wealth of services can be available their residents, thus contributing to their well-being. While the foundations of health are social, cultural, and economic, health services are a critical part of curative care and can contribute to overall health indicators—and health gaps—in urban areas. This chapter grounds the reader in how health services perspectives can inform our understanding of health in cities, offering examples of how health services research can both answer questions and point the way to the next generation of questions that inform urban health scholarship.

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