Poor waste management in shanty towns across developing countries has significantly impacted public health, contributing to widespread outbreaks of diseases such as cholera, malaria, and typhoid due to unsanitary living conditions and contaminated environments. Limited efforts by residents and governments to implement effective waste disposal practices exacerbate these health risks, perpetuating a cycle of poor sanitation, increased disease transmission, and environmental degradation. This study investigates the impact of poor waste management on public health in informal settlements and explores strategies to mitigate these risks through improved practices and collaborative efforts. The study employed a cross-sectional research design and collected data using semi-structured questionnaires to collect data from 217 households in Tandale, Manzese, and Tandika in the Dar es Salaam region. The findings confirm that inadequate waste collection services, lack of proper disposal sites, high costs of waste management, and poor public awareness are key contributors to the accumulation of waste and the prevalence of diseases. Hypothesis testing further reveals that inadequate waste collection services significantly impact public health challenges, while public health initiatives on waste management significantly improve health outcomes and reduce disease prevalence. The study’s recommendations include increasing the frequency of waste collection, fostering community-led waste management initiatives, enhancing public education on the health risks of poor waste disposal, and providing subsidized resources such as waste bins and bags. Additionally, strengthened collaboration between local governments, NGOs, and community members is essential for mobilizing resources and implementing sustainable waste management practices. These measures are vital to reducing public health risks and creating healthier living conditions in underserved communities.

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) addresses food security issues under climate change. The research examined the effect of adopting CSA practices on food and nutrition security by small-scale urban crop (SSUC) farmers in the eThekwini (ETH) Municipalityusing purposive sampling from 412 SSUC farmers. Results suggest that socio-demographic and institutional factors influence household consumption patterns and dietary status of SSUC farmers. The probit selection model show that the farmer’s age, education, household size, off-farm income, monthly expenditure on food, agricultural training, group membership, and credit access significantly influenced CSA practices adoption decisions. The endogenous switching regression using marginal treatment effects shows that farm income, off-farm income, monthly expenditure on food, group membership, hired labour and distance to the farming site significantly affected household food consumption patterns. Gender, marital status, employment status, age, household size, farm and off-farm income, monthly expenditure on food, group membership, hired labour and number of part-time labourers from households significantly influenced the household dietary diversity status of SSUC farmers. The findings confirm heterogeneity in the effects of adopting CSA practices. Unobserved benefits are prevalent through a positive selection of CSA practices depicted by the Household Food Consumption Score (HFCS) and Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS). Adopting CSA practices enhanced the food and nutrition of SSCU farmers, shown by the average treatment effects (ATT) when farmers adopt CSA practices. Adopting CSA practices correlated positively with the food and nutrition security of SSUC farmers, with adopters being 16 and 31 percent more food secure concerning HFCS and HDDS, respectively. Hence, SSUC farmers in ETH Municipality adopting CSA practices were likely better off regarding food consumption patterns and dietary diversity. In light of this, a nexus between SSUC farmers, researchers, and extension services must consider suitable sets of CSA practices of relevant scale chosen and directed toward the welfare of localised contexts.

The pursuit of economic growth in developing countries like Tanzania often intensifies environmental degradation, posing significant sustainability challenges. This study examined the interrelationships between globalization, economic growth, and environmental degradation in Tanzania from 1970 to 2022, using World Bank data and the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. The findings reveal a strong long-run positive relationship between GDP per capita and CO₂ emissions, partially supporting the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. Specifically, the analysis identifies an EKC threshold where emissions peak at 3 metric tons per capita and GDP per capita reaches approximately USD 1200 (TSH 3,120,000), after which further increases in emissions are associated with a decline in GDP per capita. In the short run, GDP per capita shows a weak negative association with CO₂ emissions, indicating temporary environmental benefits during growth phases. Foreign direct investment (FDI) exhibits no significant short-term impact on emissions, mostly due to delays in the implementation of mega development projects and changes in the country’s economic policies as the result of change in the political regime. Additionally, trade openness is a significant driver of long-run emissions, emphasizing the environmental costs of globalization. To address these challenges, this study recommends that Tanzania attract sustainable FDI for integrating eco-friendly technologies, promote green trade practices by embedding environmental safeguards into trade agreements, and invest in renewable energy infrastructure to decouple growth from emissions. Strengthening environmental regulations, enhancing institutional capacity, and fostering international collaboration are crucial to achieving long-term sustainability. These measures can help Tanzania balance economic development and environmental preservation, aligning with the goals of Tanzania Development Vision 2025 (TDV 2025) and paving the way for a sustainable growth trajectory.

Agriculture has been widely practiced for food production, yet food insecurity remains a critical issue, especially in Africa. Due to the significant role played by small-scale farmers, urban agriculture has been acknowledged as a viable strategy for reducing food insecurity in urban areas of Sub-Saharan Africa. This review analyzes urban household food insecurity factors through a systematic literature approach, retrieving data from various online databases. These databases include ScienceDirect, Wiley Online Library, Web of Science, UNIZULU online library, and PubAg. The search process involved the use of keywords to obtain relevant information along with the application of filters such as geographic location, publication period, language, article type, and accessibility. A total of 37 articles was included in this review after the application of the review eligibility criteria. This was achieved following PRISMA guidelines. Findings reveal a growing trend in the publication of articles on urban farming and an increasing acknowledgment of its importance by high-impact journals. It also shows various factors that determine household food insecurity, categorized as socioeconomic (11), institutional (5), and environmental factors (2). This led to the recommendation that urban government structures including policy makers and stakeholders should support food production and ensure an efficient urban food supply system.

Food security and income generation remain a critical issue for small-scale farming households in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) due to population growth, climate change, and market instability. Indigenous leafy vegetables (ILVs) offer high nutritional value and have the capability to mitigate food insecurity but are underutilized due to social stigma. This review aims to systematically analyze the food and income contribution of cultivation and utilization of ILVs by small-scale farming households in Sub-Saharan Africa. This review analyses the literature on the role of ILV cultivation in enhancing food security and household income over the past two decades. A systematic search across five databases was conducted and identified 53 relevant studies. Findings indicate that ILVs contribute significantly to household nutrition and income through consumption and surplus sales. However, ILV cultivation faces barriers such as climate change, pest infestations, land degradation, water scarcity, insecure land tenure, limited agricultural training, poor communication networks, and restricted market access. Policy interventions are necessary to support small-scale farmers in ILV cultivation by providing agricultural extension services, promoting sustainable farming practices, and integrating ILVs into food security strategies. Further research should examine policy frameworks and supply chain mechanisms to enhance farmer participation and economic benefits from ILV production.

Climate change poses escalating risks to small-scale farmers’ food security across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), yet evidence on how adaptation strategies transform into food security outcomes remains fragmented and unevenly distributed. This study systematically reviewed 66 peer-reviewed studies retrieved from various databases including Sabinet African Journals, Web of Science and PubAg. The peer-reviewed studies were obtained through following PRISMA guidelines which involve searching criteria (using key words) and screening criteria (applying filters). The aim of this study was to synthesise climate-related challenges, adaptation strategies and policy gaps affecting small-scale farming systems in SSA. Empirical findings indicate that prolonged droughts, rainfall variability and temperature stress dominate climate-related challenges. Small-scale farmers’ adaptation responses cluster around technological and on-farm practices, integrated climate-smart agriculture, livelihood diversification, crop- and livestock-based strategies and knowledge-based interventions. As a result most strategies positively influence the availability, stability and access pillars of food security. However, adaptation effectiveness is strongly constrained by systemic policy gaps, notably weak extension and institutional support, limited access to finance and inputs, affordability and scalability barriers to CSA technologies. These constraints disproportionately affect resource-poor farmers, reinforcing inequalities and limiting the scalability of successful local adaptation. Therefore, strengthening institutional capacity, aligning policies with farmer realities, integrating local knowledge and gender considerations and expanding financial access emerge as central priorities for transforming adaptation efforts into sustained and equitable food security outcomes across SSA.