Informal settlements and the spatialization of health risks: a study of the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre

Abstract

COVID-19 brutally exposed the relationship between health, housing, and the urban environment in Brazil. Millions of families were unable to follow WHO recommendations due to the severe lack of access to urban infrastructure and growing job and income instability, highlighting the deepening of socio-spatial inequalities during the health crisis. All Brazilian municipalities, despite their particularities, face urgent challenges associated with the urban environment, such as the persistent lack of access to basic sanitation and adequate housing. These precarious conditions can dramatically increase the transmission of infectious and parasitic diseases. Identifying these vulnerabilities in communities is crucial to understanding the factors that heighten disease risk. This study spatializes risk factors related to the lack of urban infrastructure and exposure to diseases in the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre, RS (RMPA), shedding light on the socio-spatial inequality present in informal urban settlements. Health Cartography was used as a revealing method to map these risks. The research's main contributions include the diagnosis of spatial characteristics in the RMPA that configure risk for infectious and parasitic diseases, the alarming identification of socio-spatial inequality reflected in mortality rates in areas with many informal settlements, and the original use of Health Cartography to map risks in the metropolitan territory. The work demonstrates how Health Cartography can be an essential tool in identifying areas with a higher risk of diseases, as well as serving as a solid basis for discussing inter-federated policies, in light of the Statute of the Metropolis.