Urbanization and the Increasing Threat of Infectious Diseases in Africa

The paper reflects on the link between infectious diseases and urbanization in a typical West African city. It contends that urbanization in Africa has proceeded at an alarming rate without due consideration of the consequences. Urban growth has occurred without adequate planning and sensitivity to the carrying capacity of the urban spatial space. Thus, urban growth in most of Africa replicates urban blight, squatter settlements, slum housing, squalid socio-physical environment, and significant risks of infectious diseases. Urbanization as it occurs now exposes urban dwellers to infectious diseases risks and predisposes the urban environment to pandemics originating from within and outside the continent. The paper proposes more nuanced, specific, and delimited empirical studies of the nexus between urbanization and epidemic risks.