Usman A. Raheem

Under-Five Mortality and the Environment of Health in the Third World: A Nigerian Example

Abstract The study examines the impact of what is herein called ‘the environment of health’ on pediatric health. The study adopts a multiple regression analysis to identify explanatory values of selected variables in respect of under-five mortality in the third world using the Nigerian example. The under-five mortality trend in Nigeria for 14 years (1988-2001) was selected as focus. The data source is the African development Banks Gender, Poverty and Environmental indicators on African Countries for 2002 and 2003. At the level of individual variables, most of our prior expectations relating to the variable behaviors were validated. The study thus indicated that although these parameters may not work in the same magnitude, they often work in the same direction. It is clear that most deaths associated to the children under the age of five are accounted for by variables in the environment of health and these variables are within the framework of the issues that can be fine tuned by governments and agencies in the health sector planning and programmes. The challenges raised in the study are squarely within the reach of government.

Urban Vulnerability to Climate Change and Natural Hazards in Nigeria

Climate change and global warming have attained global dimensions with the recurrent discussions at the United Nations (UN) and in other international meetings. Global climate change, driven largely by anthropogenic activities, is a growing threat to human wellbeing in developing and industrialized nations alike. Significant harm from climate change is already occurring, and further damages are likely (Gwary 2008; Barnett/ Adger 2007; CHGE 2005; IPCC 2001a). Extreme weather events resulting in hurricanes, windstorms, tornadoes, droughts, fires, floods and other weather-related hazards account for a large proportion of the increased losses from natural disasters over the last decades. More alarming even than the size of past losses is the trend for losses to increase. More than 1.5 million people died in the past two decades because of extreme climatic events, and more than ninety per cent of those deaths have occurred in developing countries (IFRC-RCS 2002; Munich Re 2003).

Understanding the spatial context of sustainable urban health in Africa for the SDGs: some lessons from the corridors of deprivation in Ilorin, Nigeria

The aim of this paper is to examine spatial clusters of urban deprivations using five domains and the influence of the observed pattern on household health status in Ilorin, Nigeria. Data were obtained through a household survey of the 20 wards of Ilorin metropolis. A systematic sampling method was used to select one out of every 10 houses in randomly selected streets in each ward while one household was selected through a simple accidental method of first contact in each building. In all, 800 household heads were sampled. A composite Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) was obtained by aggregating scores for each domain. Multiple correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between the IMD and household health status. Deprivation in housing quality offered significant explanation (75.7%) for the variation in household health status (R = .87) (p < .05). Public health policies in the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals must consider housing characteristics within the city, classify areas according to needs, and determine areas, within the city, that require positive discrimination in health resource allocation.

URBAN VULNERABILITY AND ADAPTATION TO EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS: A CASE STUDY OF RAINSTORM VICTIMS IN ILORIN, NIGERIA

Nigeria is a disaster prone country. The disasters which often result into environmental emergencies like flooding are worsened by the degradation of the country’s environment and natural resources. Floods, rainstorms and droughts affect households each year in Ilorin and contribute to endemic poverty in most parts of Kwara State. Anticipated increases in extreme weather events will exacerbate this. Using data from both primary and secondary sources the study examines the urban vulnerability and adaptation to climate change among flood and rainstorm victims in Ilorin, Nigeria. The primary data include questionnaire administration to victims in the affected areas of the city. The secondary data on the other hand, include data from the Kwara State Emergency Management Agency on flood victims in the State between 2002 and 2007. This study brings out the important issue of vulnerability, coping and adaptation to weather induced disasters among the urban poor. The study revealed that the indigenous coping mechanisms employed by the poor may become less effective as increasingly fragile livelihood systems struggle to withstand disaster shocks. Also, many of these long-term trends are rendering indigenous coping strategies less effective and thus are increasing the vulnerability of the poor.