Critique Of A Study Case Study

The article “the 21st century health challenge of slums and cities” by Sclar et al, (2005) sought to explore the health challenges associated with increased levels of population as well as urbanization. According to the author, the continued increase in population as well as urbanization has led to an increase in the population of people living in the informal urban areas and is set to escalate in the forthcoming years. The author asserts this poses a great risk to the health of people especially in the informal settlements due to the poor living conditions as well as overcrowding. Increase in the urban population growth in the especially in the slums greatly influences the epidemiology of communicable diseases that are transmitted via various modes (Oppong and Oren, 2014). Some of these modes that facilitate the spread of pathogens include; poor sanitation, poor housing, high density, lack of sewerage systems and inadequate water supply.
The major strength of this article is that the author uses statistical evidence and quantitative data from previous studies to show the correlation between living conditions and the health status of people. This provides valuable insights to health care workers in coming up with efficient ways to deal with the health problems associated with the poor living conditions. In addition, the use of quantitative data enables provides credible evidence that can be establish the cause as well as the effects of the health problems (Williams et al., 2014). However, the use of quantitative data leads to generalization whereby the acquired knowledge may not be applicable to certain phenomena. In addition, quantitative data tends to ignore some of the underlying causes and relationships.
I agree with the conclusions of the report since these health problems are inevitable due to the rapid population growth that calls for the development of efficient health intervention methods so as to minimize or eliminate these health problems. As such, this information shall help me to come up with appropriate health interventions to deal with the health problems associated with poor living conditions.

References

Oppong, J. R., Mayer, J., & Oren, E. (2014). The global health threat of African urban slums: the example of urban tuberculosis. African Geographical Review, (ahead-of-print), 1-14.
Sclar, E. D., Garau, P., & Carolini, G. (2005). The 21st century health challenge of slums and cities. The Lancet, 365(9462), 901-903.
Williams, J. R., Tregear, S. J., Dusablon, T., Caceda-Castro, L. E., Miller, K. J., Hill, G., & Hennessy, K. D. (2014). Increasing adoption of comparative effectiveness research in community behavioral health: methodology. The journal of behavioral health services & research, 1-18.