Harboring illnesses: On the association between disease and living conditions in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon

International Journal of Environmental Health Research

Volumn 16, Issue 2, 2006, Pages 99-111

  Habib, Rima R ^a   Basma, Shiraz H ^a   Yeretzian, Joumana S ^a  

^a AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT   (Lebanon)

Author keywords

Domestic built environment; Housing conditions; Illness; Palestinian refugees

Indexed keywords

DISEASE PREVALENCE; HOUSING CONDITIONS; REFUGEE;

ARTICLE; DATA ANALYSIS; ENVIRONMENT; EVALUATION; HEALTH STATUS; HOUSEHOLD; HOUSING; LEBANON; PALESTINE;

ASIA; EURASIA; LEBANON; MIDDLE EAST;

EID: 33645281723     PISSN: 09603123     EISSN: 13691619     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09603120500538341     Document Type: Article

References (38)

1. Administration Centrale de la Statistique 1998. Etude Statistiques: Conditions de vie des ménages en 1997 (Etudes Statistiques No. 9) (Fevrier). Beyrouth, Liban: Publications de l'Administration Centrale de la Statistique.
2. Al-Khatib I, Juba A, Kamal N, Hamed N, Hmeidan N, Massad S. 2003. Impact of housing conditions on the health of the people at al-Ama'ri refugee camp in the West Bank of Palestine. Int J Environ Health Res 13(4):315-326.
3. An-Natour S. 2004. The Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon. Technical Report (4): Human Rights Protection Center-Beirut, Lebanon.
4. Dunn JR. 2002. Housing and inequalities in health: A study of socioeconomic dimensions of housing and self reported health from a survey of Vancouver residents. J Epidemiol Comm Health 56:671-681.
5. Dunn, J, Hayes MV. 2000. Social inequality, population health, and housing: A study of two Vancouver neighborhoods. Soc Sci Med 51:563-587.
6. Evans G, Kantrowitz E. 2002. Socio economic status and health: The potential role of environmental risk exposure. Ann Rev Pub Health 23:303-331.
7. Evans G, Lercher P, Kofler W. 2002. Crowding and children's mental health: The role of house type. J Environ Psychol 22:221-231.
8. Farah R. 2000. A report on the psychological effects of overcrowding in refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza strip. (IDRC) April. Available: http://www.arts.mcgill.ca/MEPP/PRRN/Farah.html/.
9. Filfil M. 1999. The housing environment and women's health: The case of Ramallah Al-Tahta. West Bank, Palestine. Institute of Community and Public Health, Birzeit University.
10. FAFO. 2003. Difficult past, uncertain future: Living conditions among Palestinian refugees in camps and gatherings in Lebanon. Fafo Publications.
11. Giacaman R. 1985. A profile of life and health in three Palestinian villages. West Bank, Palestine: Community Health Unit, Birzeit University.
12. Galea S, Vlahov D. 2005. Urban health: Evidence, challenges and directions. Ann Rev Pub Health 26:1-25.
13. Gray A. 2001. Definitions of crowding and the effects of crowding on health: A literature review. New Zealand: Ministry of Social Policy.
14. Jackson M. 2003. The impact of the built environment on health: An emerging field. Am J Pub Health 93:1382-1384.
15. Jones AP. 1998. Asthma and domestic air quality. Soc Sci Med 47(6):755-764.
16. Kifle A. 2000. Housing situation and its policy implications in Ethiopia, a paper presented for a workshop on: Housing and urban development for low-income groups in sub-Saharan Africa. April, 2000, Accra, Ghana.
17. Krieger J, Higgins DL. 2002. Housing and health: Time again for public health action. Am J Pub Health 92(5):758-768.
18. Kumie A, Berhane Y. 2002. Crowding in a traditional rural housing ("Tukul") in Ethiopia. Ethiop J Health Develop 16(3):303-309.
19. Lowry S. 1991. Housing and health. London: BMJ.
20. Makhoul J, Abi-Ghanem D, Ghanem M. 2003. An ethnographic study of the consequences of social and structural forces on children: The case of two low-income Beirut suburbs. Environ Urbanization 15:(2).
21. Ministry of Labour 1995. Decree No. 621/1. December 15, 1995, Lebanon.
22. Myers D, Baer W, Choi SY. 1996. The changing problem of overcrowded housing. J Am Planning Assoc 62(5):66-84.
23. Northridge M, Sclar E, Biswas P. 2003. Sorting out the connection between the built environment and health: A conceptual framework for navigating pathways and planning health cities. J Urban Health: Bull NY Acad Med 80(4:12):556-567.
24. Perdue WC, Stone L, Gostin LO. 2003. The built environment and its relationship to the public's health: The legal framework. Am J Pub Health 93:1390-1394.
25. Rylander R, Megevand Y. 2000. Environmental risk factors for respiratory infections. Arch Environ Health 55(5):300-303.
26. Roux AD. 2003. Residential environments and cardiovascular risk. J Urban Health: Bull NY Acad Med 80(4):539-591.
27. Samet J, Spengler JD. 2003. Indoor environments and health: Moving into the 21st century. Am J Public Health 93(9):1489-1493.
28. Sirinivasan S, O'Fallon L, Dearr A. 2003. Creating healthy communities, health homes, healthy people: Initiating a research agenda on the built environment and public health. Am J Pub Health 93(9):1446-1450.
29. SPSS 2003. Statistical Package for Social Science Version 11.0.
30. Takano T, Nakamura K. 2001. An analysis of health levels and various indicators or urban environments for Healthy Cities projects. J Epidemiol Comm Health 55:263-270.
31. Thomson H, Petticrew M, Morrison D. 2001. Health effects of housing improvement: Systematic review of intervention studies. BMJ 323:187-190.
32. US Census of Bureau. 2000. Census 2000: The American Housing Survey. US.
33. UNRWA Profile of Camps in Lebanon. 2004-[Cited 2005 Jan 1]. Available: http://www.un.org/unrwa/refugees/ camp-profiles.html. United Nations and Relief Works Agency annual report.
34. UN-HABITAT 2003. Sheltering refugees around the world. UN Publication. Nairobi: UN-HABITAT.
35. UNHCR 2004. Refugees by numbers. United Nations High Commission for Refugees annual report. Geneva: UNHCR.
36. Wolf C, Schroeder DG, Young M. 2001. Effect of improved housing conditions on illness in children under 5 years old in northern Malawi: Cross-sectional study. BMJ 322:1209-1212.
37. WHO 1992. World Health Organization. International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. 10th ed. Geneva: WHO.
38. Xavier R, Braubach M, Moissoner, B, Monolbaev, K, Robbel N. 2003. Housing and health in Europe: Preliminary results of a pan-European study. Am J Pub Health 93(9):1559-1563.