AUTHOR=Yu Dongsheng , Li Xiaoping , Yu Juanjuan , Shi Xunpeng , Liu Pei , Tian Pu 

TITLE=Whether Urbanization Has Intensified the Spread of Infectious Diseases—Renewed Question by the COVID-19 Pandemic

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.699710

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2021.699710

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=On infectious diseases, the impact of urbanization from the dimensions of "population" and "land" in China is analyzed in this paper by using the GMM (Generalized Method of Moments) model. The empirical study from 2002 to 2018 shows that the population increase brought by urbanization does not aggravate the spread of infectious diseases and population density has no obvious impact on the spread of infectious diseases. On the contrary, urban education, employment and entrepreneurship, housing, medical and health care and other basic public services brought by population urbanization can help reduce the risk of the spread of infectious diseases. The increasing density of buildings caused by land urbanization increases the risk of the spread of infectious diseases. Moreover, the impact of urbanization on infectious diseases has regional heterogeneity. Therefore, the prevention and control of disease play a crucial role.