scholarly journals Mission Unaccomplished: Impediments to Affordable Housing Drive in Addressing Homelessness in Sub-Saharan Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 310
Author(s):  
Emeka Emmanuel Obioha

Affordable housing is a people-centered strategy in dealing with homelessness. However, the increasing number of people in need of homes in sub-Saharan Africa suggests that this strategy has not afforded homes to the homeless. Theoretically, affordable housing exists to provide cheap and decent homes, but in contrast, these social houses are practically unaffordable, which raises the question of why this is the case. This paper articulates the impediments that account for unrealized affordable social housing in sub-Saharan Africa. It argues that tackling these impediments through the recommended ways will booster realization of this dream. In conclusion, while provision of affordable housing to all who are in need of homes in various countries in sub-Saharan Africa is a desirable goal, all indications point to the reality that this mission is far from an accomplished status.

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-62
Author(s):  
Da Fonseka Vera Kruzh Morzhadinu

the purpose of this study is to examine the emergence of modernism as a cultural response to the conditions of modernity to change the way people live, work and react to the world around them. In this regard, the following tasks were formulated: 1) study the development of modernism on the world stage, 2) identify its universal features, and 3) analyze how the independence of Central and sub-Saharan Africa in the 1950s and 1960s coincided with a particularly bright period of modernist architecture in the region, when many young countries studied and asserted their identity in art. The article analyzes several objects of modernist architecture in Africa: urban development projects in Casablanca (Morocco), Asmara (Eritrea), Ngambo (Tanzania). The main features and characteristics of modernism which were manifested in the African architecture of the XX century are also formulated. It is concluded that African modernism is developed in line with the international modernist trend. It is also summarized that modernism which differs from previous artistic styles and turned out to be a radical revolution in art is their natural successor.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 65-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic A. Alaazi ◽  
Gamel A. M. Aganah

Sub-Saharan Africa is the world’s least urbanized region but is ironically also the region with the largest proportion of urban slum dwellers. However, there exists limited understanding of the impact of slums on health in the region. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a systematic search in PubMed, Google, and Google Scholar to identify and review studies examining the slum–health relationship in sub-Saharan African cities. Subsequently, we performed thematic analysis of 40 studies to identify themes that explain the health impact of slums in the region. The majority of studies characterize slums as health-damaging settings, where poverty and unfavorable environmental conditions pose threats to public health and safety. Only a handful of studies suggest a beneficial relationship between slums and health, in such areas as affordable housing provision, employment generation, and community cohesion. We argue that the literature’s overwhelming emphasis on the environmental risks of slums feeds into a neoliberal urban agenda that seeks to clear slums at the expense of their beneficial contributions to health. Accordingly, we advocate a shift in policy discourse, from static characterization of slums as health risks to a health-promotion agenda that emphasizes the housing and service rights of slum populations.


Author(s):  
Antje Ilberg

Comprehensive approaches to sustainable, affordable housing and infrastructure development often prove challenging in developing countries. Several ideas for low cost housing and infrastructure in urban Sub-Saharan Africa appear to have nearly perfect technical characteristics responding to current urban planning and development experience, but yet the project execution of these concepts reveals significant shortcomings. Additionally, the long-term effects of a project often have unintended side effects, and still, similar projects continue to be repeated. To consider these numerous aspects simultaneously is crucial for success. This chapter details three projects with potentially successful concepts for sustainable infrastructure, but which did not succeed fully due to the project framework and imperfections therein. Described are responses to common problems in Sub-Saharan Africa from Rwanda and Malawi in low cost housing, domestic infrastructure, and communal, decentral infrastructure, respectively. Besides describing their realistic solutions and their integration of environmental and social concerns, and despite being based on the principle of multi-level networking and support, the chapter goes beyond the technical description to analyze shortcomings and constraints of implementation. For the discussion of success factors when implementing a project, two additional best practice examples are used.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (6) ◽  
pp. 533-537
Author(s):  
Lorenz von Seidlein ◽  
Borimas Hanboonkunupakarn ◽  
Podjanee Jittmala ◽  
Sasithon Pukrittayakamee

RTS,S/AS01 is the most advanced vaccine to prevent malaria. It is safe and moderately effective. A large pivotal phase III trial in over 15 000 young children in sub-Saharan Africa completed in 2014 showed that the vaccine could protect around one-third of children (aged 5–17 months) and one-fourth of infants (aged 6–12 weeks) from uncomplicated falciparum malaria. The European Medicines Agency approved licensing and programmatic roll-out of the RTSS vaccine in malaria endemic countries in sub-Saharan Africa. WHO is planning further studies in a large Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme, in more than 400 000 young African children. With the changing malaria epidemiology in Africa resulting in older children at risk, alternative modes of employment are under evaluation, for example the use of RTS,S/AS01 in older children as part of seasonal malaria prophylaxis. Another strategy is combining mass drug administrations with mass vaccine campaigns for all age groups in regional malaria elimination campaigns. A phase II trial is ongoing to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of the RTSS in combination with antimalarial drugs in Thailand. Such novel approaches aim to extract the maximum benefit from the well-documented, short-lasting protective efficacy of RTS,S/AS01.


1993 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 555-556
Author(s):  
Lado Ruzicka

Crisis ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene Kinyanda ◽  
Ruth Kizza ◽  
Jonathan Levin ◽  
Sheila Ndyanabangi ◽  
Catherine Abbo

Background: Suicidal behavior in adolescence is a public health concern and has serious consequences for adolescents and their families. There is, however, a paucity of data on this subject from sub-Saharan Africa, hence the need for this study. Aims: A cross-sectional multistage survey to investigate adolescent suicidality among other things was undertaken in rural northeastern Uganda. Methods: A structured protocol administered by trained psychiatric nurses collected information on sociodemographics, mental disorders (DSM-IV criteria), and psychological and psychosocial risk factors for children aged 3–19 years (N = 1492). For the purposes of this paper, an analysis of a subsample of adolescents (aged 10–19 years; n = 897) was undertaken. Results: Lifetime suicidality in this study was 6.1% (95% CI, 4.6%–7.9%). Conclusions: Factors significantly associated with suicidality included mental disorder, the ecological factor district of residence, factors suggestive of low socioeconomic status, and disadvantaged childhood experiences.


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