Challenges Facing Megacities in Public Health

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MASTER IN PUBLIC HEALTH
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Master in Public Health
Introduction
Greetings Minister, my name is (name). I take this chance to present a brief note on the
challenges facing current and future megacities. These challenges are Key population growth
challenges, environmental health issues, and infectious diseases risk.
1. Issues: Reports show that megacities are experiencing a large number of population which
results in overcrowding. Also, there have been challenges of air pollution which due to various
industries operating in these megacities leading to various diseases such as lung cancer.
Additionally, water pollution has remained to be a critical challenge in various megacities.
Reports say that industries have been disposing of their waste in rivers resulting in water
pollution. However, it leads to infectious such as chlorella, diarrhea, and Malaria. Additionally,
noise pollution is also another critical issue in megacities. However, it results in hearing
problems among various people located in megacities
2. Background: Current global statistics show that there are 23 major megacities across the
world (Kourtit & Nijikamp, 2013). These statistics when compared to 60 decades back when
there were only two megacities in the world, it is evident that the urban population is increasing
daily. Recent research shows that by the year 2050, the urban population would be twice than the
current urban population (Sorensen & Okata, 2010). Thus, it would be an expectation of an
increase in the number of megacities around the globe in the same year.
However various factors have attributed the influx of people in megacities. Studies
show that people have been migration in megacities to look for better employment opportunities

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(Kraas, at el.,2013). Also, most young people are relocating in megacities to look for better
education which is not always available in rural areas. Studies also show that the high influx of
people in urban areas is mainly attributed to underdevelopment in rural areas. Thus, people
migrate in megacities to access better infrastructure such as electricity, and hospitals.
3. Current state: Recent reports show that megacities in some parts of the world particularly
Africa and some regions of South Asia are characterized by high population (Singh, 2015). Thus,
the over crowdedness in these megacities has called for a significant challenge among the people
living in those regions. For instance, poverty, crime, and social problems are major challenges
influencing people living in megacities. The over crowdedness has been attracted by
developments which attract more employment opportunities, thus leading to rural-urban
migration.
Recent research shows that infectious diseases are a critical threat in megacities. For instance,
HIV and H1N1 viruses are significant threats affecting the megacity population (Winthrop at el.,
2010, p.977). Consequently, this disease is caused by social interaction and some sedentary
lifestyles such as alcoholism.
Also, the authors report that air pollution is also a critical effect on the well-being of the
megacity population. Further studies show that air pollution is composed of nitrogen dioxide,
ozone, sulfur dioxide, and other harmful air pollution substances (Pascal at el.,2013, p.344)
Research says that this air pollution exposes a higher percentage of megacity population to fatal
diseases such as stroke and lung cancer. Similar research shows that some of these diseases have
attracted a higher percentage of death rates in some megacities.