Category: Panel & Workshop

COVID-19 & Informal Settlements Over half of Nairobi’s 4.3 million residents live in informal settlements and close to a quarter of Rio de Janeiro’s 6.3 million residents live in informal settlements known, locally, as favelas. Informal settlements are often characterized as communities with overcrowding, insecure residential status, poor-quality housing, and inadequate access to formal services like water, sanitation, and electricity. While residents of informal settlements are no strangers to preventing and managing infectious diseases, like tuberculosis, cholera, typhoid, pneumonia, and HIV/AIDS, COVID-19 is presenting new challenges for these residents. Environmental, economic, and living conditions in informal settlements inhibit most residents from adhering to social distancing, health, and hygiene recommendations for preventing the spread of COVID-19 and for managing its effects.The purpose of this three-part panel series hosted by the Columbia Global Centers-Nairobi, Kenya and Columbia Global Centers-Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is to hear from experts and residents of informal settlements about some of the most pressing issues related to the COVID-19...