Sleep And Quality Of Life In Urban Poverty: The Impact Of A Slum-Housing Upgrading Program

www.journalsleep.org.

The unprecedented urban growth in face of increasing poverty and social inequity in developing countries is posing an immense challenge for Governments at all levels.
Urbanization of poverty is shown mainly by the proliferation and expansion of slums. Such places often contain houses built using plywood, wood boards, cardboard, corrugated metal and sheets of plastic.
Over one billion people, approximately 14 percent of the global population, are slum dwellers. According to UN-HABITAT predictions, the number of slum dwellers could double by the year 2030, due to the increase in poverty and social inequality in the context of an extraordinary urban growth.

In Latin-America and the Caribbean despite the significant economic progress over the past two decades, many of the region’s city inhabitants are poorly housed. Of the 130 million urban families in the region, 5 million rely on another family for shelter, 3 million live in houses that are beyond repair, and another 34 million live in houses that lack either title, water, sewerage, adequate flooring, or sufficient space.