Housing is becoming an increasingly important determinant of health in light of urban growth, climate and demographic changes. Interventions targeting housing can save lives, prevent disease, increase quality of life, reduce poverty and help mitigate climate change. 

WHO provides evidence-based guidance to promote healthy housing for all and is working with countries to develop tools and strategies for translating normative standards into national, regional and local action. 

Poor housing exposes people to several health risks. Structurally deficient housing, for example, increases the risk of injury and hampers accessibility. Crowded housing enhances the risks of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis or diarrhoea. Living in slums and informal settlements can exacerbate housing-related health risks. Slums are also more likely to be sited in areas with other environmental risks such as flood-plains. 

Interventions to improve housing conditions can produce significant co-benefits. For example, installing efficient and safe thermal insulation can enhance indoor temperatures that support health, while also lowering expenditure on energy and reducing carbon emissions. Slum upgrading and housing interventions focusing on vulnerable populations help to reduce inequalities by improving health and broader social and economic outcomes, yielding important benefits for decades into the future. 

Housing also affects the transmission of vector-borne diseases including malaria, dengue and yellow fever. Interventions such as screening windows, doors and eaves of houses and reducing the vectors’ hiding and breeding places have the potential to reduce morbidity and mortality. 

This section discusses key aspects of sustainable housing strategies where the potential for health benefits is particularly large, or where the mitigation of health risks need particular attention. Tools for assessing, planning and financing improved housing are also reviewed.