Slum Settlement Development and Its Impact on Women's Health in Gondar Town Chirkos Sub-City

Abstract

Ayisheshim Bekele Abebe, Abiy Mahtem

Lack of basic services is one of the most frequently mentioned characteristics of slum. People living in informal settlements, particularly in slums, suffer more spatial, social and economic exclusion. The basic problems inherent in slums are health hazards, particularly for women. The main of objective of the study is to investigate Slum settle- ment Development and Its impact on women's health in Gondar town, Chirkos sub city. Cross sectional design and mixed research approach were used for this study. Three Kebeles were selected from Chirkos sub city purposively and sample households were selected using simple random sampling. Among 3237 target population 110 samples were selected. Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources via survey questionnaire, key informant interview, indirect personal observation and document references. Descriptive quantitative analysis and qualitative way of analysis were used to analyze data. Results show that magnitude of slum settlement development is very high. Slum settlers do not get basic home infrastructures and there is problem of tenure security. Migration of people from another place especially from rural areas, higher rate of population growth, prevalence of local markets in the study area, housing provision problem, poverty and income in equality were found factors responsible for slum develop- ment. Women’s in the slum have poor habit of keeping their personal hygiene and sanitation and have waste disposal habit. Slum settlement has great impact on women’s health. The main common disease in slum areas includes mea- sles, pneumonia, diarrhea, typhoid and typhus and common cold.

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