Weeks John R, Getis Arthur, Stow Douglas A, Hill Allan G, Rain David, Engstrom Ryan, Stoler Justin, Lippitt Christopher, Jankowska Marta, Lopez-Carr Anna Carla, Coulter Lloyd, Ofiesh Caetlin
Department of Geography, San Diego State University.
Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard School of Public Health.
Ann Assoc Am Geogr. 2012;102(5):932-941. doi: 10.1080/00045608.2012.671132.
West Africa has a rapidly growing population, an increasing fraction of which lives in urban informal settlements characterized by inadequate infrastructure and relatively high health risks. Little is known, however, about the spatial or health characteristics of cities in this region or about the spatial inequalities in health within them. In this article we show how we have been creating a data-rich field laboratory in Accra, Ghana, to connect the dots between health, poverty, and place in a large city in West Africa. Our overarching goal is to test the hypothesis that satellite imagery, in combination with census and limited survey data, such as that found in demographic and health surveys (DHSs), can provide clues to the spatial distribution of health inequalities in cities where fewer data exist than those we have collected for Accra. To this end, we have created the first digital boundary file of the city, obtained high spatial resolution satellite imagery for two dates, collected data from a longitudinal panel of 3,200 women spatially distributed throughout Accra, and obtained microlevel data from the census. We have also acquired water, sewerage, and elevation layers and then coupled all of these data with extensive field research on the neighborhood structure of Accra. We show that the proportional abundance of vegetation in a neighborhood serves as a key indicator of local levels of health and well-being and that local perceptions of health risk are not always consistent with objective measures.
西非人口增长迅速，其中越来越多的人生活在城市非正规住区，这些住区基础设施不足，健康风险相对较高。然而，对于该地区城市的空间或健康特征，以及城市内部健康方面的空间不平等情况，我们却知之甚少。在本文中，我们展示了如何在加纳阿克拉创建一个数据丰富的实地实验室，以梳理西非一个大城市中健康、贫困和地点之间的联系。我们的总体目标是检验这样一个假设：卫星图像与人口普查数据以及有限的调查数据（如人口与健康调查（DHS）中的数据）相结合，可以为那些数据比我们为阿克拉收集的数据更少的城市中健康不平等的空间分布提供线索。为此，我们创建了该市的首个数字边界文件，获取了两个日期的高空间分辨率卫星图像，从一个在阿克拉各地空间分布的3200名女性的纵向样本中收集了数据，并从人口普查中获取了微观层面的数据。我们还获取了水、污水和海拔图层，然后将所有这些数据与对阿克拉邻里结构的广泛实地研究相结合。我们表明，一个社区内植被的比例丰度是当地健康和幸福水平的关键指标，而且当地对健康风险的认知并不总是与客观测量结果一致。
