Intra-urban differentials in poverty and health in Accra, Ghana
John R. Weeks, San Diego State University
Allan G. Hill, Harvard University
Samuel Agyei-Mensah, University of Ghana
John K. Anarfi, University of Ghana
Most analyses indicate that poverty in rural areas is more extensive and deeper than in urban areas. One of the difficulties with such a comparison is that living standards in urban areas are measured for the cities as a whole without identification of differentials within the city. In this paper we first calculate morbidity and mortality rates for sub-areas within the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area of Ghana. We do this by combining data from the 2000 population census, from the Accra Women’s Health Survey, the Demographic and Health Survey, and vital statistics—all measured at the enumeration area level of geographic detail. We then combine data derived from the classification of satellite imagery with the census data to define social and environmental characteristics of each neighbourhood. We then use those data to undertake several different statistical analyses of intra-urban variability in health and its proximate determinants. Our methods include multi-level analysis, spatial cluster analysis, and geographically weighted regression.
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Presented in Session 31: Urban population dynamics