The Health Implications of Urbanization: Measurement and Policy Relevance of Slums in Urban India

Laura B. Nolan, Princeton University

The area in which people live determines their access to health facilities, exposure to the hygiene practices of their neighbors, and many other predictors of health and wellbeing. But do neighborhoods affect health over and above individual characteristics? This paper investigates whether slum dwelling, as one way of characterizing neighborhood-level deprivation, is associated with child health in urban India. Using the National Family and Health Survey from 2005-2006, four definitions of slum dwelling in eight cities are described, as is their association with height for age of children under five. Findings indicate that slum characterizations are often in disagreement as to whether a household is even located in a slum, and that only one is marginally associated with lower height for age. These findings indicate the possibility of “neighborhood effects” on health in the developing country context, but highlight difficulties associated with conceptualizing and measuring concentrated disadvantage in these settings.