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The issue of slums is very complex. It cuts across numerous themes and disciplines. It concerns hundreds of millions of slum dwellers directly and it indirectly concerns all the local, national economies and societies in which slums exist. It is one of the fundamental global challenges of our times. The physical, legal, social, political and economic characteristics of slums are richly varied from country to country. Besides, the multiplicity of urban and national contexts within which slums exist adds a further layer of complexity to the issue. So, if interventions are going to be meaningful there needs to be a genuine effort to appreciate the complexities and subtleties of slums, their communities, and how they interact within and with the broader context in which they exist. This paper is just an insight to the problems which slum dwellers undergo in urban areas, their present conditions and tracing overall history of the slums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the health, nutritional status, and health care seeking behaviour of a community based sample of 400 postpartum women from an urban slum in Delhi, India. It describes physically impoverished environment, where malnutrition is serious, and non-trivial morbid episodes as a consequence of childbirth are very common. Malnutrition was found to be widespread among women residing in slums. During the first few weeks postpartum over three-quarters of the women reported non-trivial illness. The frequency of reported illnesses was significantly associated with both increasing age and parity. As severe poverty persisted, most of the women reported complications (63.5%) and received some form of health care from a wide range of medical practices and traditional health care providers, with traditional birth attendants (TBAs) and unqualified medical care providers being the most frequently utilised. This study highlights the plight of these women in a precarious environment and showed how their health was compromised by cultural and political constraints. We conclude that while the burden of postpartum morbidity is very high, the incorporation of traditional practitioners and unqualified western care providers into maternal health training programs, together with efforts to empower women, could be effective in improving the health status of mothers in this marginalised and fragmented community. To achieve this outcome, a clearly articulated and integrated approach to development in slum communities is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines an adaptive strategy using occupational choice that can be undertaken by household members especially women in urban poor areas to help ensure their access to food. Our investigation focuses on working women and men in seven predominantly slum communities in North, South, East and West. This study tries examines how women in urban low income households through self-mechanism ensure their households access to food by being employed in some or the other kind of enterprise. This paper attempts to answer following questions: Does concern for household food security influence the choice of women's work in urban low income households? Does seasonality affect the income and skills of women? To answer these questions we analyze the possible relationship between household food security and occupational constraints in slums of Delhi spread across seven clusters. We have used both qualitative and quantitative information from the field interviews. This study takes into account the likely influence of occupational choice of women on gender ascribed roles, seasonality and many more factors which affect the condition of women and adds to their vulnerability status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]