Overspeed urbanization trend has posed a great threat to
people's health, who are unprepared against it, Wilfried Kreisel,
director of World Health Organization's Kobe Health Development
Center said Sunday at the Shanghai Healthy City International
Forum.
Nearly one half of the world population currently dwells in
urban areas and more are expected to settle down in cities in next
30 years, Kreisel said.
He said the urbanization speed will be especially high in Africa
and Asia and this will bring about high population density and poor
design in many settlements in the cities.
About three billion people live in the urban areas in the world
today, one third in slums, he said.
In many countries, the expert acknowledged, the health condition
of those needy people in the cities is even worse than that of
their peers in countryside.
Besides, the gap between the poor and the rich expands in many
cities, and this makes the life of the poor people harder still in
the urban areas, Kreisel noted, adding that the increasing number
of slums with worsening environment make some cities the source of
epidemics.
The seriously polluted air, water and earth together with the
ineligible garbage treatment, poor health devices and unsafe
drinking water will always trigger diseases in the cities, Kreisel
said.
At the same time, he noted, the tremendous energy consumption in
cities also threatens people's health.
The expert further acknowledged that the unsustainable
development mode and irresponsible use of natural resources is
detrimental to the environment and brings about the climate
changes," said Kreisel.
"Though we are not sure whether the climate change will affect
human health, they may be the hidden threats," Kreisel said.
(Xinhua News Agency November 21, 2005)