Family Migration as a Vehicle for Urban Poverty and Child Morbidity

Adama Konseiga, African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC)

This paper aims to establish the main sources of the urbanization of poverty and its consequences on children's well-being in the informal settlements of Nairobi, Kenya. Children in the slums of Nairobi are exposed to enormous risks, health risks in particular. One coping strategy for slum dwellers is to adopt split migration (or temporary migration): wife and children are secured in the home village while the head of household undertakes the migration project. The study seeks to understand the contribution of the alternative strategy of joint migration (or family migration) as compared to the more efficient strategy of split migration in the urbanization of poverty and child morbidity in the two slums of the Nairobi Health and Demographic Surveillance System.