Comparing healthiness across urban, peri-urban, and rural communities in Mymensingh region of Bangladesh

Abstract People in urban and peri-urban areas enjoy better physical access to health facilities compared to those living in rural area. However, healthier natural environment is commonly absent in urban and its adjoining peri-urban areas. Premising on the competitiveness of health determinants outlined by the World Health Organization (WHO), this study has embarked upon comparing healthiness of different communities in a region as well as to ascertain the factor(s) regulating their healthiness related outcome. Relying on presurveyed 1397 household data spreading over an urban, two peri-urban, and eight rural localities in Mymensingh region, Bangladesh, the study has evaluated the communities’ healthiness in views of both the conventional perspective and using a set of health determinants. Illness and disease manifestation as well as socio-economic status of the households were analyzed statistically to get communities’ overall healthiness scenario. Later, comparison among the communities and contribution of different indicators were sought using a combined score index. In this study’s context, it has been found that urban is healthier than rural followed by peri-urban community. Here, rural areas lack education the most that should be improved; peri-urban areas need better income opportunity; and urban area requires better water-supply and waste management facilities to improve their respective health status in a community sense. There is not a commonly accepted health metrics for community’s comprehensive health assessment toward which this study sets a pathway. Besides, using the combined health index developed here, specific interventions required to improve community’s healthiness and minimize the gap among them can easily be identified.