Spotlight on the cities

The towns and cities of most developing countries are expanding at an unprecedented rate, as more and more people pour in from the rural areas in search of work and a better standard of living. In fact, what they find is often inferior in many ways to what they leave behind. In particular, a namber of alth problems, such as malnutrition, respiratory infections, diarrhoeal disease, and drug dependence, arise from or are exacerbated by the conditions in the slams and shanty towns, and the health services are generally inadequate to deal with them.

Until recently, the plight of the urban poor has largely been ignored by health planners and decision-makers. This publication draws attention to the scale, nature and urgency of the situation in many cities, and advocates a fondamental shift in health care priorities towards the widespread application of primary health care. This is a message, not only for ministries of health, but equally for city hospitals and health departments, medical schools, the medical profession, and political leaders at both local and national levels.