We are excited to say many of our ARISE colleagues will be attending or represented at this year’s International Conference on Urban Health taking place in Atlanta, USA, from the 6^th to the 9^th of November. Our team has had a number of panels, presentations, workshops and posters accepted. We are also going to be showcasing some of the incredible art that has been created with communities across Bangladesh, India, Kenya and Sierra Leone as part of our research. Scroll on for more information, and we hope to see you there!

 

ARISE ICUH SCHEDULE 2023

ARISE Exhibition

Research, Art and Storytelling: A showcase of art produced as part of the ARISE consortium

Tuesday, 7 November, 2023 • All day drop in

Room: Old 4^th Ward

Art can be a powerful tool for storytelling, experience sharing, and a catalyst for change. As well as the wealth of research produced by the ARISE consortium, over the course of the project we have also worked with local communities in informal settlements to tell their stories through various art projects. Conversations around urban health can sometimes take place without strong representation of those from urban informal settlements and the global south. We would like to help bring those voices to ICUH 2023 through our exhibition. Our multimedia showcase will feature photography, video and audio presentations from communities in our focus countries of Bangladesh, India, Kenya, and Sierra Leone. Feel free to drop in to this creative space, learn more about work, hear the stories of the communities we are working with, and meet our colleagues.

ARISE Panel

Voices and Challenges of Marginalised and Vulnerable Groups in Urban Informal Settlements in Nairobi, Kenya: Building on a spectrum of community-based participatory research (CBPR) approaches

Tuesday, 7 November, 2023 • 10.45 – 11.45am

Room: Sweet Auburn

This session will discuss the social and economic disparities facing urban populations in African cities and the impact on their health and wellbeing. Presenters will share research findings on intersecting marginalities and vulnerabilities among the urban poor in rapidly urbanising cities in Africa.

Authors: Caroline Kabaria, African Population and Health Research Centre, Nairobi, Kenya; Robinson Karuga, LVCT Health, Nairobi, Kenya; Ivy Chumo, African Population and Health Research Centre, Nairobi, Kenya; Blessing Mberu, Department of Demography and Population Studies, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

ARISE Panel

Combating disparities and driving health equity in urban informal settlements across Bangladesh, India, Kenya and Sierra Leone: Intersectional analyses from the ARISE consortium

Tuesday, 7 November, 2023 • 10.45 – 11.45am

Room: Buckhead

The ARISE hub seeks to understand and address linkages between urban informalities and health well-being outcomes for those living in urban informal settlements. Central to this approach is applying intersectionality theory to understand how power relations (due to gender, age, disability, chronic disease) shape vulnerability to ill health. This panel will convene speakers with a breadth of knowledge to reflect on how interconnected power dynamics shape experiences of structural, symbolic, and everyday violence and how this influences health seeking practices and priorities for funders, governance actors and policy makers to promote health equity in these settings.  We will draw on ARISE’s research conducted in partnership with residents of  informal settlements across Bangladesh, India, Kenya, and Sierra Leone and introduce the ARISE equity analysis framework. We will illustrate how power differences contribute to and shape ill-health and wellbeing in urban informal settlements.

Authors: Abu Conteh, Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre; Partho Mukherjee, The George Institute For Global Health, India; Inviolata Njoroge, LVCT health, Kenya; Samuel Saidu, College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS), University of Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone; Farha Musharrat Noor, BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Bangladesh; Md. Sohrab Hossen, BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Bangladesh; Surekha Garimella, The George Institute for Global Health India; Inayat Singh Kakar, The George Institute for Global Health India; Rosie Steege, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK; Sally Theobald, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK; Kate Hawkins, Pamoja Communications, UK; Helen Elsey, University of York; Laura Dean, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK

 

ARISE Workshop

Accountability and responsiveness of health systems in informal settlements: A layered approach to demonstrating impact using nested country Theories of Change

Wednesday, 8 November, 2023 • 12.00pm – 1.00pm

Room: Sweet Auburn

This interactive workshop with the in-country MEL leads will demonstrate how a nested Theory of Change approach that encompasses different contexts and priorities has been developed in practice and share the key lessons learned. Participants will have a chance to engage with the outcomes framework and consider how it might be adapted and applied in their context whilst also walking through the process through which each country’s theory of change was nested within the programmatic TOC.

Authors: Joe Taylor, Institute of Development Studies, UK; Louise Clark, Institute of Development Studies, UK; Jiban Karki, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK; Anthony Mwaniki, LVCT Health, Kenya; Nazia Islam, BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Bangladesh; Sia Tengbe, Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre, Sierra Leone; Sweta Dash, The George Institute for Global Health, India

ARISE presentation as part of Women’s Health session

Delivery of Health services to pregnant adolescents in informal urban settlements in Kenya: Perspectives in policy versus practice

Tuesday, 7 November, 2023 • 3.00pm – 4.15pm

Room: Centennial

In Kenya, teenage pregnancy rates are at 18%, and have further increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Adolescent girls living in informal urban settlements are exposed to rapid socio-economic transitions and multiple intersecting health risks and may be particularly disadvantaged in accessing sexual reproductive health services. This presentation will outline how understanding vulnerabilities and service-seeking behaviours from different perspectives is important to support the development and implementation of progressive policies and services that meet adolescents’ unique needs within urban informal settlements. This study explored policy makers, community health service providers and community’s perceptions about access to, and delivery of, sexual reproductive health services for pregnant adolescents in one informal urban settlement in Nairobi. We employed qualitative methods with respondents throughout the health system, purposively sampled by gender and diversity of roles.

Authors: Linet Okoth, LVCT Health; Rosie Steege, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine; Anne Ngunjiri, LVCT Health; Sally Theobald, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine; Lilian Otiso, LVCT Health

ARISE presentation as part of Healthcare II session

Negotiation for Healthcare by People Living in Informal Urban Settlements in Dhaka City: Strategies, Drivers and Barriers

Tuesday, 7 November, 2023 • 3.00pm – 4.15pm

Room: Kirkwood

Availability and access do not always ensure receiving healthcare services, especially for poor people living in cities’ informal settlements. They have to constantly negotiate with different actors to claim their health rights. More than seven million people live in more than 5000 informal settlements in Dhaka city, the capital of Bangladesh and one of the most crowded megacities in the world. In Bangladesh’s complex, fragmented and pluralistic urban health systems, the urban poor face difficulty in accessing affordable healthcare from formal health systems. This PhD research tried to understand how informal settlement dwellers negotiate to receive healthcare from formal health systems.

Author: Bachera Aktar, BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh; Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom

ARISE presentation as part of WASH session

Intersecting Systems of Power Shaping Health and Wellbeing of Urban Waste Workers in the Context of COVID‐19 in Vijayawada and Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India

Thursday, 9 November, 2023 • 12.00pm – 1.00pm

Room: Sweet Auburn

Waste work in India is an undervalued role relegated to historically marginalised communities. The informal nature of their work coupled with lack of state regulation keeps waste workers trapped in poverty. This presentation explores how intersecting systems and relations of power impact the agency of waste workers to shape their health and wellbeing. The ability of communities to exercise agency is constrained by the power exercised on their lives by the state and society. NGOs play a supportive role for the realisation of rights, but the ability of waste workers to organize and effect change is limited to coping strategies.

Author: Inayat Singh Kakar, The George Institute for Global Health India; Apeksha Mallya, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK; Lana Whittaker, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK; Rachel Tolhurst, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK; Surekha Garimella, The George Institute for Global Health India

ARISE presentation as part of Community session

The Critical Need for Community-Based Committees (CBC) for Improving Health and Well-being in Urban Informal Settlements: Evidence from Bangladesh

Thursday, 9 November, 2023 • 3.00pm – 4.15pm

Room: Buchkead

Urban informal settlements, also known as “slums,” are a rapidly developing phenomenon, in low- and middle-income countries with over one billion residents. This rapidly growing population is underrepresented in cities’ health and development planning.  The formation of Community-Based Committees (CBC) in urban slums comprising marginalised populations, community leaders and major public, private, and community-level stakeholders can improve voice, collective action, and agency.

This presentation presents data from a large community-based participatory action research project and focuses on the contributions of local CBCs on improving the health and well-being of informal urban settlement residents and the ability of those committees to increase the accountability and responsiveness of service providers within the settlements.

Author: Bachera Aktar, BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh; Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom

ARISE poster presentation

Identifying Spatial Inequities and their Impacts on Health and Wellbeing through Participatory GIS Mapping: Experience from Bangladesh

Wednesday, 8 November, 2023 • 2.00pm – 3.00pm

Venue: Midtown combined

People living in informal urban settlements face spatial inequities in the distribution of resources and service availability.  Participatory Geographic Information System (PGIS) mapping is a great tool to visually present spatial inequities, especially in a data-scarce context like Bangladesh. ARISE in Bangladesh used PGIS mapping to identify spatial inequities in informal urban settlements and their impacts on the health and wellbeing of the dwellers. Using PGIS mapping from April 2020 to December 2021, ARISE Bangladesh co-produced three interactive GIS maps of three informal settlements in Dhaka city. This poster presents findings from two informal settlements.

Authors: Bachera Aktar, BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Bangladesh and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom; Proloy Barua, BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University, Bangladesh; Sadaf Khan, Institute of Development Studies, United Kingdom; Sabina Rashid, BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Bangladesh.

ARISE poster presentation

The Fault in our Social Safety Schemes: Tales of missing accountability and its impact on the health of informal settlers in Dhaka

Wednesday, 8 November, 2023 • 2.00pm – 3.00pm

Venue: Midtown combined

About 16.6% of Bangladesh’s urban population resides in challenging informal urban settlements. The Government of Bangladesh’s Social SafetyNet Programs (SSNP) includes 145 programs under 23 ministries. Access to SSNPs has a huge impact on the overall health and well-being of the urban poor – SSNPs help poor people access healthcare, nutritious food and education. Informal settlement residents face governance complexities and neglect from state institutions, limiting their capacity to access SSNPs. ARISE project in Bangladesh documented experiences of informal settlement dwellers in accessing four SSNPs (table below). This poster presents findings on the challenges experienced by people residing in informal settlements in accessing SSNPs, and how their ability or inability to access SSNPs affects their health and overall well-being.

Authors: Adrita Rahman, BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Bangladesh; Md Sohrab Hossen, BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Bangladesh; Farha Musharrat Noor, BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Bangladesh; Bachera Aktar, BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Bangladesh and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK

ARISE poster presentation

Power of light: How art and light can support the health and wellbeing of people in urban informal settlements

Thursday, 9 November, 2023 • 2.30pm – 3.00pm

Venue: Midtown combined

Poorly lit public spaces, roads and alleyways in informal settlements in Freetown increase the risk of injury, violence and pickpocketing, negatively impacting the health and wellbeing, and quality of life of dwellers. Children, women and vulnerable groups are most affected. Multiple partnerships driven by ARISE and LSTM united to improve the wellbeing of people in informal settlements in Freetown through the use of art and light.

Authors: Motto Nganda, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK; Samuel Saidu, College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS), University of Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone; Ibrahim Sesay, Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre (SLURC), Sierra Leone; Samira Sesay, College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS), University of Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone; Ibrahim Gandi, Centre for Dialogues on Human Settlement and Poverty Alleviation (CODOHSAPA), Sierra Leone; Bintu Mansaray, College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS), University of Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone; Luke Jerram, International artist, United Kingdom; Kate Hawkins, Pamoja Communications, United Kingdom; Sally Theobald, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), United Kingdom