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According to a new study, living conditions in Africa have changed radically over the last 15 years, from cities to the countryside.
But the research, based on state-of-the-art mapping and published in the scientific journal Nature, also revealed that nearly half of the urban population – 53 million people in the badyzed countries – lived in slums.
Led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, this study provides the first comprehensive estimate of housing quality in sub-Saharan Africa.
Using the most recent data available from 31 countries, the researchers found that housing improved thanks to several measures taken over a period of 15 years. Sufficient living space, improved water and sanitation and sustainability of construction were found in 23% of homes in 2015, up from 11% in 2000.
Dr. Samir Bhatt of Imperial College London, lead author of the study, said, "Our study shows that people are investing heavily in their homes, but it is also urgent that governments contribute to improving infrastructure. water supply and sanitation.
"We have seen the number of people living in an improved home double. This corresponds to the successes we observe in terms of Africa's development. It is supported by a wide variety of other studies that show that when people have enough income, they invest in their home. "
Bhatt said the improvement would have a "huge impact" on people's health and vulnerability to the disease.
"You can give someone a mosquito net with an insecticide, but having a window that you can close makes a huge difference," he said.
The study found that the need for adequate housing was "particularly acute" in Africa, as the fastest growing population in the world is projected to grow from 1.2 billion people in 2015 to 2.5 billion people in 2015. people from here 2050.
Improvement was strongest in Botswana, Gabon and Zimbabwe. South Sudan, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo have been among the countries where progress has been less marked.
The researchers found that improving housing could be linked to economic development. Housing improvement was 80% more likely in more educated households and twice as likely in the richest households, compared to the least educated and poorest families.
The new data could guide interventions to ensure universal access to safe and affordable housing and improve slums by 2030, one of the UN's sustainable development goals.
Dr. Lucy Tusting, who led the malaria atlas project at Oxford University, said: "Adequate housing is a human right. Remarkable development is occurring across the continent, but so far this trend has not been measured on a large scale. "
According to the United Nations definition, a slum household does not protect against bad weather, has more than three people in a room, lacks access to safe water and adequate sanitation, and does not have a security system of occupation.
The researchers, who examined 600,000 households with the help of an innovative technique for mapping the prevalence of different types of housing across the continent, described the housing as being "improved" in the home. it contained the first four conditions, without regard to the security of tenure.
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