The term Urban was first used in 1619 and
came from a Latin word ‘Urbanus’ meaning city
(1). There is no single universal definition of
urban since this tends to vary from country to
country. The definition of urban however may
vary in time, delineation of administrative and
political boundary, population size and density
and economic function (2).
In 2014, global estimate shows that 54% of the
world population resides in urban setting (3).
This proportion is projected to expand to 66%
by 2050. The pace at which urbanization grows
is unprecedented especially in developing
countries. It is projected that population in
urban areas of low income countries will grow
from 1.9 billion in 2000 to 3.9 billion in 2030
(4). Urbanization is recognized to offer
opportunities as well as bring challenges to
human health and wellbeing. By offering
opportunities, urbanization is considered as a
hub of economic and social transformations
with better literacy and education, life
expectancy, improved housing and sanitation,
access to services, participation in public affairs,
better living conditions, better food security
and better health indicators (5). Nonetheless,
such narrative appears to mask the realities of
disadvantaged urban poor who do not share the
same level of joy regarding access to
opportunities (6).
Posing challenges,