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Notas de Pesquisa Cefavela, n. 5, 2025
Determinants, Pathways and Health Outcomes in Informal Settlements: Towards an Integrated Framework
EDMUNDO WERNA
Informal settlements constitute one of the most significant spatial expressions of contemporary urban inequality and are home to more than one billion people globally. Health conditions within these settlements are shaped by complex interactions among environmental exposures, inadequate housing, infrastructural deficits, socioeconomic precarity, governance failures and unequal access to healthcare. While the literature on urban health has increasingly recognized the importance of different types of determinants, research on informal settlements often remains fragmented across disciplines, sectors and specific disease categories. This Research Note presents a systematized global review of the determinants and health outcomes associated with informal settlements, synthesizing evidence across four interconnected dimensions: environmental, economic, social and governance-related. The Note examines how these determinants interact to shape different types of disease. It also highlights the persistence of a double burden of (infectious and noncommunicable) diseases and, increasingly, a multiple burden of diseases, including mental health and injuries.
