Relationship between housing and health

The primary concerns of this paper are threefold: to explore the possible relationship between housing conditions and health, to determine how much people know about personal hygiene, and to identify what the people from the squatter areas need in order to uplift their standard of living. A survey was undertaken covering 150 households in three different housing areas. Associations were established between crowding and a number of health indices and between sanitation and sanitary facilities. The difficulties of determining the effects of housing conditions per se, of other environmental circumstances, and of factors such as economic status, adequacy of medical care and nutrition are also discussed. The findings of this study show that there is a positive relationship between housing conditions and health and that there is a need for constructive policies.