Grant: Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA)

Globally, nearly 1 billion people live in slums and informal settlements where poor housing is a serious threat to public health. In sub-Saharan Africa, most (over half) of the urban population lives in slums where housing insecurity is a major threat to health. Housing insecurity, which is the lack of secure, affordable, safe, acceptable, and decent housing, remains a pervasive challenge in these slums, often manifesting through unaffordability, overcrowding, and poor physical environmental conditions, all of which undermine physical and psychosocial health outcomes. Yet, there is little evidence for housing insecurity and its effect on intestinal health outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, there is no evidence for the gendered differences in experiences of housing insecurity and its effect. This study seeks to examine these gendered differences and the effect of housing insecurity on intestinal health outcomes among Kenyans living in informal settlements. Using survey data that have been collected from three slum sites in Kenya (N=1,030), we will examine the effect of housing insecurity (measured using a 17-item scale) on diarrhea (physician diagnosed or self-reported). Data will be stratified by the sex of household head for analysis. Applying logistic regression models, we would be able to account for the factors influencing the gendered differences in the risk to diarrhea disease in this population. The study findings will be disseminated through conference presentations and open access peer reviewed publication. Through this research, we will be able to identify the proximal and distal factors contributing to intestinal diseases in informal settlements in Kenya.