Neighborhood-Level Influences and Adolescent Health Risk Behaviors in Rural and Urban Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review

Stephanie Wiafe, Ariana Mihan and Colleen M. Davison
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Stephanie Wiafe: Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada
Ariana Mihan: Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada
Colleen M. Davison: Department of Public Health Sciences, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 14, 1-28

Abstract: The impact of neighborhoods on adolescent engagement in health-risk behaviors (HRBs), such as substance use and sexual activity, has been well documented in high-income countries; however, evidence from low and middle-income country settings is limited, particularly in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Neighborhoods and communities in SSA continue to experience urbanization, epidemiologic transition, and the simultaneous presence of large populations living in rurality and urbanicity. This is a dynamic context for exploring adolescent health challenges. This review seeks to identify and summarize existing literature that investigates adolescent engagement in HRBs when compared across rural and urban neighborhoods across SSA. We performed searches using three electronic databases, targeted grey literature searches and scanned reference lists of included studies. Following dual-screening, our search yielded 23 relevant studies that met all inclusion criteria. These were categorized into six broad themes including studies on: (1) sexual risk taking, (2) injury-related, (3) violence, (4) eating and/or exercise-related, (5) substance use, and (6) personal hygiene. We found that neighborhood factors relating to accessibility and availability of health information and care impacted adolescent engagement in HRBs in rural and urban areas. Urbanization of areas of SSA plays a role in differences in engagement in HRBs between rural and urban dwelling adolescents.

Keywords: adolescent health; health risk behaviors; sub-Saharan Africa; neighborhood factors; health and place; urban health; rural health; health risk behaviours (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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