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Urban Poverty in Tanzania on the Rise
ON NOVEMBER 27, 2013
WORLD NEWS
DODOMA, Tanzania – Many nonprofit organizations are mainly focused on improving the lives of poor Tanzanians living in rural areas. The rural population is usually considered to be the group most affected by disease, hunger, poverty and illiteracy. However, the situation for those living in urban areas is often just as dire.
Urban poverty in Tanzania is among the worst in Africa. More than six million Tanzanians live in urban slums and this number is increasing by an average of six percent every year. Tanzania currently has the third highest slum growth rate in Africa.
Conditions in Tanzania’s urban slums are often appalling. People often lack access to clean water and basics services like education, healthcare and sanitation facilities. Water and sanitation conditions in many slums have actually gotten worse in recent years. Water sources are often contaminated and sanitation facilities are usually shoddily built. Pit latrines, the most common form of sanitation in slums, usually collapse during the rainy season because of poor construction.
Health is a serious concern in urban slums. Diseases like malaria, typhoid and dengue fever are commonplace and access to medication is extremely limited. According to the World Health Organization, six percent of Tanzanians are infected with HIV/AIDS. This figure increases to 11 percent in urban areas. HIV infection rates are particularly bad in slums because people live in close proximity to one another, speeding up transmission. Also, people are often misinformed on how HIV is transmitted and access to contraceptives is limited.
All of Tanzania’s urban areas have high poverty rates, but the epicenter of the country’s urban poverty crisis is concentrated in Dar es Salaam. Dar es Salaam is the country’s largest city, with a population of five million. This figure is expected to reach eight million by 2020 as thousands of rural Tanzanians flock to the city every year in search of better employment opportunities.
The World Bank estimates that 70 percent of Dar es Salaam’s population lives in poor, unplanned settlements. About half of these residents live on less than $1 per day. A significant percentage of children living in these slums are chronically malnourished and most aren’t enrolled in school.
Infrastructure in Dar es Salaam is limited. Roads are often in poor condition, quality schools are hard to find and adequate medical facilities are virtually nonexistent. Citizens often blame the poor infrastructure on the government. Tanzanian lawmakers have a long track record of drafting promising policies only to fail when it comes to proper implementation.
Poverty in Dar es Salaam has become even worse in recent years because of climate change. Increased floods are washing away homes and mosques and widespread erosion is devastating the city’s coastline and causing widespread ecological problems. Weather-related problems are only expected to increase in Dar es Salaam in the coming years, making poverty in Tanzania even worse.
Partly due to the issues plaguing urban cities, the poverty reduction targets of the Millennium Development Goals will most likely not be met in Tanzania. The gap between rich and poor is increasing,
gender inequality remains a pressing issue and poorest 10 percent of have seen their standards of living plummet during the last decade.
– Allison Johnson
