Urban health, environment, and inequalities

• Autor(a) principal: Azambuja, Maria Inês Reinert
• Data de Publicação: 2011
• Outros Autores: Achutti, Aloyzio Cechella, Reis, Roberta Alvarenga, Silva, Jacqueline Oliveira, Fisher, Paul Douglas, Rosa, Roger dos Santos, Bordin, Ronaldo, Oliveira, Francisco Arsego de, Celeste, Roger Keller, Schneider, Aline Petter, Campani, Darci Barnech, Piccinini, Lívia, Ramos, Maurem, Sattler, Miguel Aloysio, Oliveira, Paulo Antonio Barros, Lewgoy, Alzira Maria Baptista
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Brasileira de Medicina de Família e Comunidade (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://www.rbmfc.org.br/rbmfc/article/view/151
• topic: Urban Health; Environment; Health Inequalities; Salud Urbana; Ambiente; Desigualdades en la Salud; Saúde da População Urbana; Meio Ambiente; Desigualdades em Saúde; ensaio; saúde urbana; maio ambiente; desigualdades sociais

The psychosocial, economic, and physical environment where we were born, and now are growing, living, working, and reproducing affect health and longevity as much as do smoking, exercise, and diet. Individual attention to health is not enough to prevent or control the effects of bad environmental conditions. Historical and current evidence show that a decline in the health condition of the poorest is associated with rapid urbanization. Population aging in an urban environment of social inequalities is expected to make the health situation of the poorest even worse, resulting in more human suffering and economic losses for the country. Based on these observations, a group of professors from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) organized themselves, through an extension program, to contribute on the discussion and national initiatives of intervention in urban health. The group’s projects are comprised of: discussions about the potential impact of private initiatives and sector public policies (housing, sanitation, transportation, education, technological innovation, environmental sustainability, and so on) on urban health; the production and dissemination of information about social and environmental determinants of health; the production and dissemination of new indicators of inequality as determinants of health; human resources development; and the participation in social networks. The public presentation of this project satisfies the objective of initiating the group’s contribution to this discussion.