Past research on urban (slum) health in developing countries has been limited by the lack of data that are representative across and within urban areas.<sup>3</sup> The data situation is changing, and Bangladesh, along with Kenya (Ezeh et al. 2017), is a relative forerunner. In 2006, the National Institute of Population Research and Training (NIPORT) and others conducted the Bangladesh Urban Health Survey (BUHS), providing for the first time extensive data on adult and child health and nutrition outcomes, and potentially relevant factors that are representative for slum and nonslum areas in city corporations (the country’s large cities), and for district municipalities and large towns ( _paurashavas_ ). In 2013, the survey was repeated on a new cross-section which is representative for the same domains. The two rounds of the BUHS serve as the source of data for this study.<sup>4,5</sup> We measure child growth by height-for-age z-scores (HAZ scores). Height is widely regarded as the most relevant measure of overall child nutrition, and child stunting (an HAZ score that is more than two standard deviations [SD] below the international reference median) is seen as the key indicator for tracking progress in addressing child undernutrition.<sup>6</sup> Child stunting reflects the cumulative effects of poor diet and recurrent infection. Globally in 2004, 15% of deaths and another 15% of the burden of disease for children below five years of age are attributed to stunting (Black et al. 2008). International evidence indicates that child stunting is associated with lower motor, cognitive, emotional, and social development, and higher rates of illness, disability, and premature death, as well as poorer socioeconomic outcomes in adolescence and adulthood, measured by, for example, education attainment, student academic achievement, employment, and labor earnings (Currie and Vogl 2013; Black et al. 2013; Cesar et al. 2008).

> 3 In the case of Bangladesh, past research has used data from national household surveys to examine urban-rural differences in health and nutrition outcomes (for example, see Srinivasan et al. 2013), or urban health and nutrition outcomes while treating urban areas as an undifferentiated whole (for example, see Headey et al. 2015). Khan and Kramer (2014) examined the health and socioeconomic characteristics of urban slum and nonslum residents using national household surveys based on self-reported information by the household on the slum status of the residence. Other past research has used data from small-scale convenience or purposive samples of individuals, households, or health facilities to examine health and nutrition issues in specific cities and towns (for example, in Dhaka and Chittagong), or in specific subpopulations within cities and towns, such as slum residents (for example, see Choudhury et al. 2012).

> 4 The 2006 and 2013 BUHS data were publicly released in 2013 and 2016, respectively.

> 5 The 2006 BUHS was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The 2013 BUHS was funded by USAID and the United Kingdom Department for International Development.

> 6 The child stunting rate is one of two indicators selected to measure progress against Target 2.2 on “ending all forms of malnutrition” in the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goal 2 (UN 2015b).

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