The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #45402

Blair Grant Darney, Ba, MPH 02, School of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University, 60 College St, New Haven, CT 06520, 203.752.9087, blair.darney@yale.edu and Gabriel Pictet, PhD, UERD, University of Ouagadougou, BP 7118, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Background Community-based health care intervention research in developing countries has focused on rural areas. Methods exist to assess communities and plan health interventions for rural areas. We have no such methodology for the urban context, and the applicability of rural strategies to urban settings is unknown.

This pilot study aimed to describe daily urban mobility and living environments in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. We worked under the assumption that developing a systematic method to achieve a better understanding of the urban context will help to inform future research on community-based urban health interventions (planned in Ouagadougou in 2002) in the developing world.

Methods We used a two stage stratified sampling scheme. Two neighborhoods, one planned and one unofficial or squatter, were selected. We employed a variety of instruments-brief interviews, mapping, checklists, and descriptive observation-to describe residents' daily movements, local resources and infrastructure, and neighborhood-level socio-economic indicators.

Results Urban residents in both types of neighborhood are not bound by geographic boundaries in their daily lives. There may be no such thing as an "urban village," with the social cohesion, limited mobility, and homogeneous population we know in rural areas. Disparities between the two neighborhoods in infrastructure, resources, and neighborhood-level SES indicators are evident.

Implications This hypothesis-generating descriptive pilot study points in new directions for rapid assessment techniques, research and intervention. Movement patterns and differences between neighborhood areas have implications for research and intervention design. Urban community-based health interventions should incorporate urban daily living patterns and realities to be more effective.

Learning Objectives:

• At this session, participants will analyze our in-progress methodology to characterize the urban context. They will be able to articulate challenges to field research in urban areas and the importance of appropriate assessment before the development of research or intervention planning.

Keywords: Urban Health, Methodology

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.