Roundtable on Urban Living Environment Research (RULER).

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Urban Planning
• Health Equity Measurement

Background:

• Urban populations face unique health challenges, with significant inequities often concentrated in informal settlements.
• Existing global health metrics primarily focus on national-level outcomes, often overlooking granular urban health disparities.
• Reports from UN agencies and the WHO highlight the need for better understanding of health inequities in urban settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify measurement gaps crucial for assessing and evaluating population health in urban environments, especially in low- and middle-income countries.
• To review existing urban health measurement methods in light of health inequities.
• To propose actionable recommendations for improving urban health data collection and utilization.

Main Methods:

• Convened the Roundtable on Urban Living Environment Research (RULER) with interdisciplinary, international experts.
• Reviewed existing population health measurement methods within the context of urban health inequities.
• Identified gaps and proposed enhancements for urban health metrics, considering integration with existing platforms.

Main Results:

• Identified three key areas for measurement enhancement: geographic disaggregation for intra-urban risk assessment, measures for social environment and governance, and assessment of physical/built environment impacts on health.
• Noted that existing platforms (e.g., Health Metrics Network, IHME) primarily focus on national-level health outcomes and systems.
• Highlighted the underutilization of available granular data (e.g., census data) and the untapped potential of spatial measurement technologies for urban health.

Conclusions:

• There is a critical need for more disaggregated, spatially explicit, and context-specific urban health metrics to address health inequities effectively.
• Recommendations should be integrated into existing global health data platforms to ensure sustainability and impact.
• Addressing urban health measurement challenges requires acknowledging resource limitations and the political nature of health data.