Developing Urban Health Indicators for Low Income Countries

This study is nested within the EURO-URHIS 2 project, a European Union funded project which is collecting data on a series of indicators deemed to be important to urban health. It investigates whether the EURO-URHIS 2 data collection tools designed for use in Europe can be replicated in Vietnam. Analysis of the research literature in urban health within the developing world revealed that health inequalities in cities within the developing world exist. However, the tools that exist to measure and monitor these inequalities remain inadequate. The indicators presently available were found to have significant methodological design problems with little consideration of comparability between countries. Although there have been a number of health studies in the developing world, they have primarily focused on rural areas. Therefore, it was argued that urban health studies are important if health inequalities in cities within the developing world were to be addressed. The EURO-URHIS 2 data collection tools include a cross-sectional population-based survey and an existing data collection tool. A preliminary fieldwork trip was carried out in Vietnam to test the methodologies of all data collection tools. The majority of the results from the fieldwork were found to be consistent with the reviewed literature of conducting research in developing countries. Methodological issues for the adult data collection were found to be problematic. A survey was developed to give a better understanding of the types of health related data and resources that NGOs use. The study recommended that a new methodology needs to be developed for the adult data collection tool. Limited data is available for the existing data collection tool. Data collection using the NGO survey is due to commence in August 2011.