Poor economic
environments and unstable living spaces, insufficient water supply, inadequate
sanitation and high population density create favourable conditions for the
spread of infectious diseases. Robust community engagement and communication
strategies can help to raise awareness and to develop skills and are crucial to
the success of an outbreak response in densely overcrowded urban conditions.
Small gains have been made in an urban context and importantly a procedure to
reach slum communities in a disease outbreak has not yet emerged. The purpose
of this paper is to highlight the urgent need for international agencies to
cooperate to develop guidelines on how to effectively reach slum communities in
disease outbreaks and to make recommendations for the next steps to resolve the
present situation.