The Hindu: Study planned on sleep patterns of urban poor

“Lack of sleep is a health disorder that is increasingly a concern among upwardly mobile sections of society. Do the urban poor too suffer from this problem? To evaluate the prevalence and impact of the problem, the State government has planned to conduct a study in north Chennai. The study will cover 500 persons, living in tenements of the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board. Preliminary work for the study has begun and it is expected that the study will go on for 18 months, sources say. The study will be carried out as part of the State government’s memorandum of understanding with the Abdul Latif Jameel – Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), US. The J-PAL is a network of development economists and social scientists. As the government has been implementing a number of welfare schemes for the urban poor, its interest in the study is two-fold. One is welfare and poverty alleviation, and the other, health.” Read more here.