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Environmental Correlates of Health-Related Quality of Life among Women Living in Informal Settlements in Kenya

Informal settlements (slums)—defined as residential areas lacking durable housing; sufficient living and public spaces; access to basic infrastructure, water, sanitation, and other services; and secure tenancy—are presumed to be poor health environments. Research in Kenya suggests that residents of...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Winter, Samantha C., Obara, Lena Moraa, Barchi, Francis
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6843694/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31627277
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16203948
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author Winter, Samantha C.
Obara, Lena Moraa
Barchi, Francis
author_facet Winter, Samantha C.
Obara, Lena Moraa
Barchi, Francis
author_sort Winter, Samantha C.
collection PubMed
description Informal settlements (slums)—defined as residential areas lacking durable housing; sufficient living and public spaces; access to basic infrastructure, water, sanitation, and other services; and secure tenancy—are presumed to be poor health environments. Research in Kenya suggests that residents of these settlements have the worst health outcomes of any population, yet there is a paucity of research focused on the health and well-being of these residents. Even less attention is given to the role played by environment in health in these settings. The present study addresses these gaps by examining potential environmental correlates, specifically access to water and sanitation, of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among 552 women in Mathare slum in Nairobi, Kenya. A Kiswahili version of the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) measured HRQOL. Results suggested that access to a toilet at all times was associated with every subscale of the mental health and general well-being domains of the SF-36. Primary water source was also associated with women’s HRQOL. Despite increasing efforts to expand sanitation and water access in informal settlements, more attention should be given to whether the interventions being introduced, which likely affect women’s psychosocial health, are appropriate for all residents, including women.
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spelling pubmed-68436942019-11-25 Environmental Correlates of Health-Related Quality of Life among Women Living in Informal Settlements in Kenya Winter, Samantha C. Obara, Lena Moraa Barchi, Francis Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Informal settlements (slums)—defined as residential areas lacking durable housing; sufficient living and public spaces; access to basic infrastructure, water, sanitation, and other services; and secure tenancy—are presumed to be poor health environments. Research in Kenya suggests that residents of these settlements have the worst health outcomes of any population, yet there is a paucity of research focused on the health and well-being of these residents. Even less attention is given to the role played by environment in health in these settings. The present study addresses these gaps by examining potential environmental correlates, specifically access to water and sanitation, of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among 552 women in Mathare slum in Nairobi, Kenya. A Kiswahili version of the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) measured HRQOL. Results suggested that access to a toilet at all times was associated with every subscale of the mental health and general well-being domains of the SF-36. Primary water source was also associated with women’s HRQOL. Despite increasing efforts to expand sanitation and water access in informal settlements, more attention should be given to whether the interventions being introduced, which likely affect women’s psychosocial health, are appropriate for all residents, including women. MDPI 2019-10-17 2019-10 /pmc/articles/PMC6843694/ /pubmed/31627277 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16203948 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Winter, Samantha C.
Obara, Lena Moraa
Barchi, Francis
Environmental Correlates of Health-Related Quality of Life among Women Living in Informal Settlements in Kenya
title Environmental Correlates of Health-Related Quality of Life among Women Living in Informal Settlements in Kenya
title_full Environmental Correlates of Health-Related Quality of Life among Women Living in Informal Settlements in Kenya
title_fullStr Environmental Correlates of Health-Related Quality of Life among Women Living in Informal Settlements in Kenya
title_full_unstemmed Environmental Correlates of Health-Related Quality of Life among Women Living in Informal Settlements in Kenya
title_short Environmental Correlates of Health-Related Quality of Life among Women Living in Informal Settlements in Kenya
title_sort environmental correlates of health-related quality of life among women living in informal settlements in kenya
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6843694/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31627277
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16203948
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