Source: French to English Tester Published on: 2026-04-07
Source: The Conversation – in French– By Elaine Nsoesie, Assistant Professor, Department of Global Health, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston University
A newbookTitled Urban Health in Africa, it examines how rapid urbanization across the continent influences public health and well-being. Drawing on various research and case studies, this work redefines African cities not only as places of challenges but also as places of innovation, resilience, and opportunities.
We spoke with Elaine Nsoesie, a global health researcher, and Blessing Mberu, a sociologist specializing in urbanization and well-being, co-editors of the book. They explain to us the importance of African cities and what it will take to build inclusive and healthy cities.
In your opinion, which aspect of urban life in Africa should be more appreciated by the general public?
African cities work, but not always like those in other regions. In the book, we quote this textby Abdou Maliq Simone, who works on issues of spatial composition in urban regions:
In all cities, one can observe incessant bustling. Intense activities take place constantly near hundreds of occupations: cooking, recitations, sales, loading and unloading, quarrels, prayers, rest, trafficking, and purchasing. Everything unfolds side by side in spaces that are too cramped, too dilapidated, filled with waste, history, disparate energies, and sweat. Despite everything, life goes on.
This capacity to endure is essential. Too often, discussions about African cities are limited to their problems: inadequate infrastructure, rapid urbanization, and informal neighborhoods. Their remarkable capacity to function and their diversity are then forgotten. No city alone can represent the entire continent. Lagos is not Nairobi; Accra is not Dakar. Each has its own history, governance structures, and contemporary challenges. Treating them all the same way erases this complexity.
Yes, these cities are facing serious challenges. But they also house innovative urban experts, effective policy solutions, and technological advances suited to their specific contexts. The question is not whether African cities function. Rather, it is whether we pay attention to how they function, if we document how they tackle health-related challenges, and if we learn from their solutions.
Is there a story or example that particularly stuck with you?
When we undertook to write this book, we knew that we had to start with history. One cannot understand health in today’s African cities without understanding how colonialism shaped the built environment and urban citizenship. We wanted readers to see how historical forces, combined with rural and urban migration, demographic growth, and policies, created the urban landscapes that affect millions of lives today.
Our second objective was to map the social determinants of health – the conditions of the environments in which people are born, live, play, work, and learn – that shape African cities. We focused on informal neighborhoods and slums, as they have become determinants of African cities.
We examined how residents cope with daily challenges: inadequate housing, water and sanitation; air pollution; transportation; food insecurity. The idea was not to present these issues separately, but to show that they are interconnected and affect many communities.
One of our favorite chapters is in this section. It examines the impact of transportation on health in African cities, both the risks and the benefits. For example, the availability of transportation makes it easier to access hospitals and schools, while vehicles are also the cause of traffic accidents and air pollution. The authors also discuss particular forms of public transportation that African cities share and that are not found in most other regions of the world.
Motorcycle taxis, for example, have different names. They are called “boda bodas” in Kampala, “okadas” in Lagos. Suburban minibuses are called poda-poda in Freetown, trotro in Accra, daladala in Dar es Salaam, matatu in Kenya, car rapides in Dakar, kamuny in Kampala, gbaka in Abidjan, kwassa-kwassa in Kinshasa, candongueiros in Luanda, sotrama in Bamako, songa kidogo in Kigali.
This chapter addresses a major theme of the book: even though these cities are different, some effective policies in one city can be adopted to meet the needs of the residents of another city.
Read more:
In Dakar, urban growth strongly contributes to intensifying flooding
In addition to the social determinants of health, we devoted another part to Africa’s unique demographic reality: these cities are young. We devoted sections to how urban environments shape the lives of young people, particularly in terms of sexual and reproductive health. We also highlighted the rise of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. Studies have shown a link between the rate of urbanization in Africa and the increase in chronic diseases, due to issues such as the adoption of an unhealthy Western diet, lack of spaces for exercise, and sedentary lifestyles.
To illustrate how some cities are addressing the challenges related to social determinants of health, we have included case studies. They focus on air quality in Kampala, new initiatives regarding mental health in Yaoundé, an approach to reduce school dropout in Arusha, integrated planning transforming informal neighborhoods in Nairobi, as well as innovations in digital health. These examples show that effective solutions incorporate community voices and the local context.
Your book describes the future of urban health in Africa. What do you see there?
In the final chapters, we clearly explain what should be done. Public health professionals, urban planners, doctors, nurses, community health workers, public policy advocates, as well as water and waste managers must work together. We need educational programs specifically focused on urban health. More crucially, we need strong local, national, and regional governance to bring these plans to fruition.
But we must also make heard the voice of young people, their ideas and their innovations across the continent. According to United Nations estimates, about40% of Africanswere under 15 years old in 2020, and nearly 60% were under 25 years old. It is the highest proportion of young people in the world.
Young people have an influence on African cities and will bear the consequences of decisions made today.
What motivated the publication of this book, and why now?
When we launched this project, there was no work on urban health in Africa written by Africans striving to address the various challenges faced by city dwellers. It is estimated that 46% of the 1.3 billion Africans live inurban areas. Africa is also the continent experiencing the fastest rate of urbanization, with 50% to 65% of the population expected to live in urban areasby 2050. Although they share with other regions similar urban challenges, some difficulties faced by African cities are unique to them.
We wanted to bring together researchers and practitioners with varied expertise and a deep understanding of the challenges faced by city residents. We aimed to examine these challenges, highlight effective policies, and propose recommendations on what should be done to improve the health of inhabitants.
Elaine Nsoesie benefits from funding from the Gates Foundation to support a scholarship program for early-career researchers in Africa.
Blessing Mberu works for the APHRC, an organization that has previously received funding for research on urbanization, but not for the book specifically dedicated to urban health in Africa, nor for this article published on The Conversation Africa.
–ref. African cities face numerous challenges: how to make them healthier –https://theconversation.com/african-cities-face-many-challenges-how-to-make-them-healthier-279907