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Future Health Systems: Delivering Effective Health Services

Publications
1. Scoping Study
2. Research Report
3. Policy Brief
4.
Issue Brief: water and sanitation
5. Issue Brief: waste management
6. Issue Brief: state of healthcare access


SLURC blog post

About this project
As a way to increase evidence-based knowledge on urban health in Sierra Leone (one of its four thematic research areas), over the past year SLURC has been working to review the available evidence on urban health, and conduct field research exploring the relationships between living conditions in informal settlements and common health problems, and whether the socio-economic backgrounds of people living in informal settlements affect their access to healthcare services. These urban health studies have been led by SLURC in collaboration with Future Health Systems (FHS) and funded by DFID and the ESRC in the UK. Two research outputs have been completed as follows: - (i) a scoping study which provided initial thoughts on the state of knowledge in urban health regarding health risks and access to health provision for the urban poor in four main cities in Sierra Leone, and (ii) field research which drew on the first output to investigate the causal links between living conditions and health, and how the socio-economic and spatial locations of people determine access to health service provision.


Both studies have shown that poor living conditions, underpinned by poor environmental and household level sanitation, trigger health problems for people living in informal settlements. Inadequate provision of essential drugs and other supplies to public health facilities and the often greater trust in informal health service providers in Freetown than formal ones has caused a high demand for informal health markets known locally as “Pepe doctors’’ (eg. traditional healers, drug peddlers etc.). The key lesson drawn from the FHS funded urban health research work is that informal settlement populations are aware of the risks they face by living in environmentally poor conditions, but they lack the capacity to act to improve their conditions. Therefore, any action to improve the living conditions of informal settlers must be supported by both the central and municipal government authorities (eg. Ministries of Health, Lands and Water Resources, and Freetown City Council). While many informal settlement dwellers lack knowledge about the benefits of seeking care from formal healthcare services, many others lack resources to do so. The result of this is an incessant demand for the informal health markets in Freetown, mainly because of ease of access, low cost of service and familiarity with providers.

For further information on this project, please contact Dr. Joseph M Macarthy, Executive Director of SLURC.
Partners
Future Health Systems (FHS)
Institute for Development Studies, University of Sussex (IDS)
Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University (JHU)


Funded by
Department for International Development, UK (DFID)

Email: 

[email protected]


Telephone:

+232 79 684818
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