Intersectoral collaboration for healthier human settlements: perceptions and experiences from stakeholders in Douala, Cameroon

ABSTRACT

This study explored expert stakeholder perspectives on health and housing challenges in Douala, Cameroon, as well as their experiences of intersectoral collaboration to address these challenges. Fifteen stakeholders with expertise in the health or human settlement sectors were interviewed using a semi-structured in-depth interview guide. Stakeholders understood the linkage between poor housing conditions and increased risk of water- and vector-borne diseases but showed little appreciation of non-communicable disease risks, such as respiratory ailments, associated with built environments. Experiences of intersectoral collaboration were limited; centred around specific events, disaster management, or health awareness initiatives. Key barriers were sector silos and complex communication channels. Our findings highlight the need to broaden stakeholder and community understanding of the relationship between non-communicable diseases and inadequate housing, a re-imagination of governance structures to support intersectoral collaboration, and a need for more transdisciplinary research partnerships working with policymakers to contribute to the design of intersectoral action for health in ways that integrate existing evidence and incorporate health impact evaluations.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban health
• housing
• human settlement(s)
• transdisciplinary
• intersectoral collaboration
• Africa

This article is related to:

Research for city practice

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the LIRA 2030 Africa Programme [LIRA2030-GR06/18].

Notes on contributors

Blaise Nguendo-Yongsi

Blaise Nguendo-Yongsi is a Professor of Public Health at the Institute of Population Studies (IFORD) of the University of Yaoundé II. His work focuses on addressing social health determinants as well as spatial health disparities in urban settings.

Trish Muzenda

Trish Muzenda is a Vital Strategies Healthy Food Policy fellow currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Cambridge. She is interested in understanding the intersections between urban food policies and the lived realities of people living in low- and middle-income countries, with the goal of improving access to affordable healthy food alternatives across all socio-economic groups. She also holds a Master of Public Health (Epidemiology) from the University of Cape Town (UCT), and a BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry from Rhodes University.

Daline Nora Kenfack Momo

Yves Bertrand Djouda Feudjio is a lecturer in the Department of Sociology at University of Yaoundé I.

Tolu Oni

Daline Nora Kenfack Momo is an architect and town-planner in the Department of Environment, Health and Living Conditions at Douala City Council. She is currently working on the adoption and implementation of the first Douala metropolitan planning and management tool titled ‘Douala 2050 operational metropolitan project: towards a resilient city’.

Tolullah Oni is the Programme Lead of the Global Diet and Physical Activity Group and Network at the University of Cambridge MRC Epidemiology Unit and Extraordinary Professor & Chair at Innovation Africa@UP, University of Pretoria, South Africa where she leads the Urban Better Satellite Studio. She is also an Honorary Associate Professor and Lead of the Research Initiative for Cities Health and Equity (RICHE) group at the University of Cape Town. Profiled in the Lancet journal, Science magazine, and the British Medical Journal, she is a 2019 World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences. Her global practice is grounded in a science-informed, Africa-led, health foresight approach to generating new knowledge that supports partnership between science, policy and societal role players. She is passionate about identifying creative strategies to address complex urban population health challenges in rapidly growing cities globally.