Slums, which lack adequate shelter often grow up in and around large urban centers in developing countries as rural populations migrate to the cities in search of employment. Slum dwellers lacks the solutions for alleviating houselessness and proper measures are yet to be successfully introduced to change the condition. Countries in sub-Saharan Africa host some of the world's highest number of urban slum households.
Slums are emerging as the dominant settlement type in many sub-Sahara cities including those in South Africa and Nigeria. In the past, conventional wisdom suggested slum dwellers were less vulnerable to incidents of disease and hunger. However, recent reports have begun to show otherwise, In addition, residents of slums are less educated and are subject to very high unemployment rates.
According to Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua, ''African cities must be strengthened to generate substantial income if city managers are to meet the ever increasing demand for better infrastructure and enhanced services '' including shelter. President Yar'Adua blamed African cities for failing to act as engines of economic development citing ''The cities should provide avenues for national prosperity, but instead of that, they only breed slums,'' he said. The slums are a product of the informal nature of settlement and a lack of planning for the poor by government officials. Additionally, informal settlements often face the brunt of natural and man-made disasters, such as landslides, as well as earthquakes and tropical storms making the burden to replace services more challenging.
Painting a clear picture of the condition, UN-HABITAT Executive Director, Dr Anna Tibaijuka, said that about eight per cent of the African populations had no homes. It is estimated that the population of Africa is 955 million people and has been growing exponentially over the past century. This meant over 76 million people are without a home. Based on an average family of 5, Africa is in need of 15.3 million homes.
Much of the continent is also in need of fresh water supplies, adequate sanitation, durable housing, adequate living space and secure tenure ''Even if the rate of slum formation drops, we need to be under no illusion that the continuing fast expansion of towns and cities will make it difficult to improve living conditions'' she said.
Tibaijuka, however, said that her organization was prepared to work in active collaboration with African governments to develop and implement programs capable of eliminating slums on the continent
There are also private sector businesses willing to weigh in to help deliver solutions. One such company is IADDIC Shelters, a social enterprise committed to working with UN-HABITAT and government bodies to improve the living conditions of slum dwellers by offering shelters specifically designed to be low cast, durable, and improvements over currently available building materials. According to Richard Grabowski, President of IADDIC Shelters, "the challenge is to be able to provide affordable shelters quickly to stem the tide. Otherwise the condition of affecting the urban poor will simply continue to get worse". The IADDIC Shelters website contains more information about their shelter and can be reached at
http://iaddicshelters.net.
There is no denying these slums took a long time to form, however; the rate of expansion has continued to accelerate as the rural population has migrated to the urban centers. Extreme measures need to be initiated with respect to infrastructure and shelter if the slum residents are to have an opportunity to live in dignity.