The health indicators of housing in the rural areas of Kurdistan province, Iran

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Department of Geography and Rural Planning, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Housing is considered as one of the components of sustainable development. Achieving sustainable development is not possible without having healthy people.The aim of this study was to investigate the healthy rural housing of Kurdistan province with a descriptive-analytical method. Total of 10 indicators that indicate the quantitative and qualitative dimensions of healthy housing were evaluated. In this study, rural housing in Kurdistan province have been compared with the regulations of the National Housing Regulation and also the average of rural housing indicators in the Country. Quantitative findings showed that 64% of the rural houses in Kurdistan province lack safe water, 55% had worn texture, and 65% had infrastructure area less than 100 meters. Kurdistan province villages are facing a shortage of 9560 housing units. Rural housing quality indicators were in poor condition in terms of lighting, materials used and tectonically. Therefore, in order to improve the indicators of healthy rural housing, it is necessary to provide a well-written and comprehensive plan by the Housing Foundation in which climatic comfort conditions and physical well-being of rural residents are guaranteed.

Keywords


1. United Nations. The Sustainable Development Goals Report, 2019. URL: unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2019/The-Sustainable-Development-Goals-Report-2019.pdf
 2. Husin H N, Nawawi AH, Ismail F, Khalil N. Development of hierarchy for safety elements and its attributes for Malaysia’s low cost housing. Procedia Eng 2011; 20: 71-9.
3. Darban Astaneh A, Bashiri BS. Deprivation analysis of rural housing sector in Iranian cities. J Space Economy & Rural Development 2017; 6(20): 119-36. [In Persian]
4. Soltani A, Ghazaei M, Hoseini A, Askari S. An analysis of socio-economic characteristics of Mehr housing resident's case study: Shiraz, Firouzabad, Abadeh, Nurabad and Estahban. Urban Reg Stud Res 2014; 6(22): 84-67. [In Persian]
5. Dorsey R E, Hu H, Mayer W J, Wang H-C. Hedonic versus repeat-sales housing price indexes for measuring the recent boom-bust cycle. J Hous Econ 2010; 19(2): 75-93.
6. Pourmohammadi M R. Housing planning. Publisher, Samt. pp. 45. [In Persian]
7. World Health Organization (WHO). Health and Environment in Sustainable Development Translated by Ali Asghar Farshad. Tehran. Ministry of Health and Medical Education, 2005. [In Persian]
8. Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Convened by the Islamic Consultative Assembly. (2018). [In Persian]
9. Ferguson A. Editorial: Housing and health: Finding innovative solutions to improve the quality and condition of the home. Front Public Health 2019; 6: 386.
10. Ige J, Pilkington P, Orme J, Williams B, Prestwood E, Black  D, et al. The relationship between buildings and health: A systematic review. J Public Health 2019; 41(2): e121- e132.
11. Kang N N, Kim J T, Lee T K. A study on the healthy housing quality of multi-family attached house according to dwelling unit age. Energy Procedia 2014; 62: 595-602.
12. Arnott R. Housing policy in developing countries: The importance of the informal economy. Commission on Growth and Development, Working Paper; No. 13. World Bank, Washington, DC. World Bank, 2008. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/28043 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
13. Afrakhteh H, Afkar A. Factors affecting villages’ health level (Case study: Shaft district villages). J Res Rural Planning 2012; 1(1): 43-25. [In Persian]
14. Jacobs DE, Brown MJ, Baeder A, Sucosky MS, Margolis S, Hershovitz J, et al. A systematic review of housing interventions and health: Introduction, methods, and summary findings. J Public Health Manag Pract 2010; 16(5 Suppl): S5-10.
15. Baker E, Mason K, Bentley R, Mallett S. Exploring the Bi-directional relationship between health and housing in Australia. Urban Pol Res 2014; 32(1): 71-84.
16. Karimi Baneh Khalkhal H, Jafari Mehrabadi M, Aghaizadeh E. Investigating the healthy house in the cities: A case study of Ardabil city.  J Urban Stud 2018; 7(26): 99-111. [In Persian]
17. Golpayegani A, Khanjani N, Zeydabadi A. The rural housing project and its effect on housing health and safety indices in Bam. Housing and Rural Environ 2014: 32(144): 49-58. [In Persian]
18. Housing Foundation of the Islamic Revolution of Kurdistan Province, Rural Housing Statistics and Information Unit, 2011
19. Statistical Center of Iran. Population and Housing Census, Kurdistan Province. 2011; 58. [In Persian]
20. Kasmaei M. Climate and Architecture. Iran House of Companies, 1984, Tehran.
21. Escourrou S. Climate and Environment; Tehran: Gomes Pub. 1994. Translated by Sharyar Khaledi. [In Persian]
22. Research and Construction Center. National Building Regulations and Design of Buildings against Earthquake. Tehran Central Publishing House, 2006.
23. Azizi M M. An analysis on status and transformation of urban housing indicators in Iran. Beautiful Arts 2005; 23: 25-34. [In Persian]
24. Farhangi S. Predicting the housing situation in urban areas of Gilan province, 1995.
25. Bahrami R. An analysis of rural settlement vulnerability to earthquakes: A case study of Kordestan Province of Iran. Vill Dev 2008; 11(2): 163-82. [In Persian]
26. Kermani M, Farzadkia M, Yousefi Z, Ghandali R. Investigating the environmental health and safety status among primary schools. J Mazand Univ Med Sci 2012; 22(95): 85-9. [In Persian]
27. Ghadiri Masuom M, Aligholizadeh Firozjaei N, Mehralitabar Firozjaei M. Analysis of the health status of housing in forest-mountain villages and its affecting factors in the eastern region of Bandpey in Babol County. J Res Rural Planning 2015; 3(4): 51-63. [In Persian]
28. Sheikhi D, Rezvani M R, Mahdavi M. Measurement and analysis of health level in rural areas according to healthy village approach: A case study of Khondab County, Markazi Province. Vill Dev 2012; 15(2): 109-38. [In Persian]
29. Thomson H, Thomas S, Sellstrom E, Petticrew M. The health impacts of housing improvement: A systematic review of intervention studies from 1887 to 2007. Am J Public Health 2009; 99(Suppl 3): S681–S92.
30. Wahowiak L. Healthy, safe housing linked to healthier, longer lives: Housing a social determinant of health. The Nation's Health 2016; 46 (7): 1-19.
31. Swope CB, Hernández D. Housing as a determinant of health equity: A conceptual model. Soc Sci Med 2019; 243: 112571.