HOUSING AND ENVIRONMENTAL-FACTORS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN IN THE SLUMS OF KARACHI, PAKISTAN

To examine the association of environmental factors (including housing ) with respiratory infections and diarrhoea in children under 5 years of age, a cross-sectional study of 403 families was conducted in a squ atter settlement of Karachi. In the 2-week period before the survey pr evalence of diarrhoea and respiratory infections was 14.4% and 15.0% r espectively. The factors significantly associated (p < 0.05) with diar rhoea in households in the multivariate analysis were: number of child ren under 5, regular cleaning of sewers, storage of water in small ute nsils and cooking inside a one room house. Five households risk factor s were identified for respiratory infections: the number of children u nder 5, poor housing structure, increased household density, humidity inside the house less than the humidity outside house, and frequent co oking inside the house. These results suggest that children under 5 ye ars of age in lower income areas are at additional risk to health beca use of poor environmental conditions.