sowm_2015__int__africa_full_report_low_res

addressing sufficient living space, housing in
non-hazardous locations and protecting the
urban poor from extremes of climate conditions
such as rain, heat, cold or humidity.
National governments should aim to provide
safer cities. This includes a focus on providing
safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable
public transport planning for all with special
attention to the needs of those in vulnerable
situations: women, children, persons with disabilities
and older persons. Governments should
promote universal access to safe, inclusive and
accessible, green and public spaces, particularly
for vulnerable groups.
5. Investing in data collection. Poor quality
data and lack of disaggregated data make
it difficult to identify groups lagging behind,
particularly those suffering from intersecting
inequalities and from social exclusion.
Governments, donors, and international
institutions should increase investment in
strengthening data collection to identify disadvantaged
groups and to track quality of care.
Investments in national statistical system is
urgently needed to track and monitor progress.
While it is generally understood that city
dwellers, on average, enjoy better health than
their rural counterparts, very little is known
about health differences that exist within cities.
Health information should be disaggregated by
income, neighborhood and other subgroups.
Currently, health information is aggregated to
provide an average of all urban residents (rich
and poor, young and old, men and women).
As a result, the inequalities within the urban
population are hidden and overlooked. Those
living in slums and informal settlements are
rarely counted and therefore neglected by urban
health professionals.
6. Mobilizing resources to end preventable
child deaths in poor urban areas. Donor governments
should meet their funding pledges
for maternal and child health and nutrition
and continue to provide technical and financial
assistance to developing countries.
Jordan
National governments should increase their
domestic resource allocation to health, allocating
at least 15 percent of the total budget
towards health. Country governments must
increase their own health budgets substantially,
raised in fair ways, allowing them to move
away from relying on out-of-pocket and private
financing to mandatory, large-scale pooling
mechanisms. Increasing domestic revenues
through increased and improved taxation, and
allocating a fair share to health, could help meet
a large part of the gap in funding universal
health coverage. Aid should play a complementary
role, especially in the poorest countries that
are unlikely to be able to fund health sufficiently
without support for a number of years.
Civil society organizations and city and
municipal governments should monitor domestic
budgets to track resource flows and advocate
for increased funding.
STATE OF THE WORLD’S MOTHERS 2015 53