Africa’s Urban Transition

“Urbanisation without growth” (as shown in the table) is evidence that population dynamics are stimulated by technological and institutional advances and not always economic growth (Fox, 2011).

Rapid urban population growth is currently occurring in many African cities, averaging 4.87% annually (the world’s highest rate)(WorlBank, 2015). The processes of such growth are dependent upon two main limiting factors; the availability of energy supplies and the “burden of infectious and parasitic disease” (disease control), (Fox, 2011). As shown, water sanitation levels are an important factor of disease control, with waterborne diseases having the ability to spread epidemically due to the necessity of the resource and transmission methods. Rapid population growth and high population densities in countries without the economic stability to cope with the management of such an influx of people increases disease prevalence (Vorosmarty et al., 2000). "Climatic and ecological characteristics render Africa uniquely conducive to infection and parasitic disease", (Fox, 2011), evident in the mortality rates in sub-Saharan Africa as the highest in the world since the 1950s.