This paper raises a fundamental question about Sub-Saharan Africa: has urbanization there been accompanied by improvements in personal wellbeing? It then proceeds to open an investigation focused on child health—in the form of child growth failure, including (i) stunting; (ii) wasting; and (iii) underweight—that addresses the question. The main contribution of the work is to reconcile an array of data, collected across different spatial scales and over different timeframes, in a manner that enables some preliminary insight into the relationships explored. Evidence derived from the analysis suggests that the wave of urbanization breaking across Sub-Saharan Africa is associated with improvements in wellbeing, a finding that is qualified by need for further research.

本文提出了一个关于撒哈拉以南非洲的基本问题：那里的城市化是否伴随着个人福祉的改善？然后，它着手开展一项针对儿童健康的调查——以儿童生长障碍的形式，包括 ( i ) 发育迟缓；( ii ) 浪费；和（三) 减持——这解决了这个问题。这项工作的主要贡献是协调一系列数据，这些数据是在不同的空间尺度和不同的时间范围内收集的，从而能够初步了解所探索的关系。分析得出的证据表明，跨越撒哈拉以南非洲的城市化浪潮与福祉的改善有关，这一发现需要进一步研究。