A project concerned with the study of intra-urban health differentials in S. Paulo city, Brazil, is described. A brief outline of urban problems in the city is presented, followed by a review of the locally published literature on the subject of geographical differentials (stratification by socioeconomic status and environment). Two topics are introduced: geographical subdvision of the area studied and the methods used to choose the socio-environmental indicators for the construction of a deprivation index with to stratify the city. Suggestions are made as to possible applications of results achieved by the project.
Urban health; Differential mortality; Residence characteristics