University of the People

Department of Health Science

Community and Public Health 1: Health Education and Behaviour:

Course Code: HS 2711

Unit 4:  The Built & Social Environment

Written Assignment 4

Course Instructor: Dr. Hubert Amu (PhD)

Date: 08/12/2022
1. Introduction
According to (Ribeiro, 2018), where individuals live have a great impact on their health, and

this is not a new phenomenal. The same publication by Ribeiro, alludes that neighbourhood

characteristics which includes physical and social features greatly impacts the health

behaviours and health outcomes which are often associated with physical activity, diet,

mortality, mental health, perinatal outcomes, quality of life, and well-being among others

(Ribeiro, 2018). Based on this definition and my understanding of built environment and

social environment, I am going to categorically describe my neighbourhood and community

in relation to the different public health concerns that my community continues to grapple

with.

2.0. Neighbourhood and Community.

I currently live in the slums of Kawempe in the capital City of Kampala. As such my

neighbourhood is characterised by dense population of people who live in crowded areas and

houses which are close to each other. Often times the houses are in poor conditions, which

are poorly ventilated. The environment also has a very poor drainage and wash facilities, and

people normally live very close to latrines or toilets. In addition, there is not a very clear

rubbish collection points as most of the area is used for settlement. Children do not often

have play facilities and have to rely on small spaces which are provided by the schools.

Besides that, there are no health facilities nearby and so people have to rely on government

facilities that are often very crowded. The most common diseases are often associated with

environmental pollution and children tend to suffer more because they are exposed to water

born diseases such as cholera, typhoid among others. Because of the poor housing and it

being in the tropics another major disease is Malaria. Also, because people are poor, the rate

of theft and burglary is very high as people are struggling to survive. The means of

transportation that is commonly used are public taxis and motorcycles, however many people
normally walk. The roads are not very planned and do not necessarily provider room for

walkways which is also associated with high rates of accidents.

3.0. How are social environment and built environment linked

Essentially, when look at the different places where people live and the health concerns that

come from such places, we can easily tell the livelihood health risk that they are most likely

to suffer from. That is, the built environment and the social environment have a great

influence in the health outcomes of a person. (Ribeiro, 2018), urges that the nature of the

physical features of the environment that people share; availability of healthy/unhealthy

home, work, and leisure environments; services to support daily living, sociocultural features

and neighbourhood reputation all have a significant influence in peoples health and are

greatly linked. Mouratidis (2018), explains how the neighbourhood-scale built environment

may influence social wellbeing through four different ways such as social relationships,

leisure, health, and affective experience. Built environments are often man made, tangible

items which are within our surrounding. They can manipulate by human activities and actions

and in turn contribute to our health and wellbeing. Cities along with the different physical

aspects that make it therefore qualify to be referred to as built environment (Mouratidis,

2021). For example, the arrangement and setup of our houses and habitats, stadiums, worship

house all influence all contribute to the health and wellbeing of an individual, community or

population, while social environment are the factors that may affect your engagement and

involvement in a given community or society. These may include the friends or network that

you associate with. For example, if you associate yourself users of drugs and alcohol, you

may also be compelled to engage in such vices simply because you want to fit in such a

network.

Social capital differs from one population to another, and it often characterised by difference

in gender, income levels, education attainment, and religious beliefs (Koohsari et al., 2021).
The built environment is said to correlate of social capital since it describes the human-made

space that people live, work, and relate on a daily basis (Ribeiro, 2018). For example, it has

been found out that higher physical activity can contribute to higher social capital (Koohsari

et al, 2021). To elaborate further, we could use the presence of a football pitch or leisure park

as a built environment. The presence of such a facility allows people to engage in activities

such as sports in a collective way as such build friendships or support systems who watchout

for each other. The relationship that players and coaches have over each other is largely

contributed by the presence of a sporting facility where they routinely converge and play

together and encourage each other. In the process, provide good emotional build up and

active participations even beyond the facility alone.

Conclusion

Social capital also significantly affects health outcomes because they not only expose people,

and it also greatly influences by the nature of the built environment. For example, the

presence of security lights in the night may protect the population from being attacked by

thieves. Therefore, areas with such facilities are safer compared to areas without such

facilities. For this reason, wealthier communities that can afford better built environments

tend to leave longer than those without such built environments.

 References
Koohsari, M., Nakaya, T., McCormack, G., Shibata, A., Ishii, K., Yasunaga, A., Hanibuch,
T., & Koichiro, O. (2021). Traditional and novel walkable built environment metrics and
social capital.  Landscape and Urban Planning, 214. Retrieved from
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2021.104184

Mouratidis, K. (2021). Urban planning and quality of life: A review of pathways linking the
built environment to subjective well-being. Cities, 115, 103229. Retrieved from
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Northridge, M. E., & Sclar, E. (2003). A joint urban planning and public health framework:
Contributions to health impact assessment. American Journal of Public Health, 93(1), 118-
21.  Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1447705/

Story, W. T., & Glanville, J. L. (2019). Comparing the association between social capital and
self-rated health in poor and affluent nations. SSM-population health, 9, 100508. Retrieved
from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100508

Ribeiro A. I. (2018). Public health: why study neighbourhoods?. Porto biomedical

journal, 3(1), e16. doi.org/10.1016/j.pbj.0000000000000016 retrieved from