IXL Social Enterprise Case Studies Chronic Diseases October, 2013 | Page 5

Improving Chronic Disease Care in Slums by 2019

Over 250 million slum dwellers suffering
from chronic diseases need help
Chronic diseases affect an estimated 250 million people in slums worldwide
All over the world, poor people are suffering from diseases that can be treated and even cured,
but their suffering continues unnecessarily because they do not have reasonable healthcare.
Healthcare, as it is described in this case, entails the maintenance and improvement of physical
and mental well-being through medical services. People who live in slums lack access to
“effective and affordable” healthcare.1 It is estimated that close to a billion people worldwide live
in slums.2
“Access to health care should be a right,
not a privilege.”
- President Clinton

Slums are poor, densely populated, illegal (or informal) settlements with weak or non-existent
infrastructure near or within an urban area. Slums exist all over the world but are more common
in developing regions in Africa, Asia and Latin America (Figure 13). People who live in these areas
lead difficult lives. Employment is intermittent. Sanitation is poor. Education about choices is
insufficient. Quality healthcare is nearly impossible to find. Because of the grim conditions in
slums, disease comes sooner, lasts longer, has more serious consequences and is all too often
too expensive to treat. As expected, poor people in these poor countries are more vulnerable and
have fewer options and less access to quality care.4

Figure 1. Slum populations are largest in Africa, Asia and Latin America

Chronic diseases, also known as non-communicable diseases (NCDs), are not passed from
person to person.5 They are of long duration and generally slow progression, representing the
main cause of disability and death worldwide.
Identifying appropriate statistics and population measures is always a difficult task. Explicit counts
are based on general estimates because of two key factors — (1) governments often overlook
slums in official counts and (2) records are limited because of informal employment, land tenure
and networks.6 In terms of morbidity, it is estimated that there are at least 2 billion people
worldwide, and 250 million people living in slums, who suffer from at least one of the following
chronic diseases: cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, chronic respiratory disease (CRD),
diabetes or mental illness. The number of people suffering from chronic diseases is expected to
continue rising (Figure 2).

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